Fake medical doctor arrested in Lagos

A 32-year-old Junior secondary school three dropouts, Nonlonfun Celestine, has been arrested by the police in Lagos for allegedly impersonating a medical doctor and conducting surgery on a pregnant woman which resulted in her death.

The suspect was said to have been running a clinic named ‘Be well in third Millennium clinic and Maternity Home’ in the Tomaru area of Liverpool in Apapa where he had been posing as a medical doctor and rendering various medical services since 2005.

The father of two however, met his waterloo when he conducted a surgery on a pregnant woman who died alongside her baby.

The family of the deceased who were angered by the death of their daughter and grandchild wrote a petition to the State Criminal Investigation Department Panti Yaba to investigate the death of the deceased because they suspected the deaths were as a result of Celestine’s incompetence.

When police operatives stormed the clinic, it was discovered that the suspect who hails from Badagry in Lagos State and had been parading himself as a medical doctor was practicing with fake certificates.

Investigations revealed that the University of Ibadan Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery certificate, certificate of annual practicing license from the Medical and Dental Association of Nigeria, and the Certificate of Registration of Business from Corporate Affairs Commission with which he had registered his hospital, were all fake.

Celestine narrated how he started the practice. “I am from Lagos State but my mother is from Benin Republic. I lived with my mother for over 18 years in Benin Republic and it was there I was enrolled in an auxiliary nursing school. I graduated with a certificate and returned to join my father in Nigeria in 2004. I started selling drugs in Badagry but later moved to Tomaro where I started a clinic.

There I administer various medical treatments.

“The pregnant woman in question was brought by her husband and her brother at about 4 am on the 12th November 2016. She was in a critical State and convulsing seriously.  I administer first aid treatment but she didn’t get any better.  About four hours later I called her husband to take her to a better hospital but he begged me to continue trying because he hadn’t the money to take her there.

“He gave me N8, 000 and left. Later that evening at about 8pm, I carried out surgery on the woman and he gave birth to a son. Who died almost immediate.  Two hours after, she also died. I called the husband who had now returned and in the waiting room and gave him the news.  He was bitter about it. He however came with his family member to take her remains and the dead baby for burial.

“She was buried the next day. It was however surprising when on the 17th November 2016 being Wednesday, some men came to my clinic to look for me. When I came out of my office to see them I discovered they were police officers.  They told me they had received a petition about my illegal operation of a hospital in the area by the community leaders. They requested I follow them which I did.

“Unfortunately for me, when I was about taking money from my drawer to add to what I had with me, my fake medical certificate fell off and they picked it up and asked where I had gotten it from and I told them it wasn’t original as I paid to get it from a friend when I wanted to register my clinic.

“I did present my nursing certificate from Benin Republic but they turned it down.  So, I had to pay N35,000 to get the fake certificates. I did not kill anyone intentionally. ”

The police Commissioner who paraded the suspect started that investigations were still on after which the suspect will be charged to court accordingly.