Cape Town – An intelligence-driven operation has led to the arrest of two doctors in the Western Cape who were not registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
According to the council, the two unregistered locums were practising in Philippi and Stellenbosch areas.
An operation conducted by the HPCSA along with members of the SAPS Crime Prevention and Crime Intelligence units.
In the first incident, Dr Rasheed Fareed Mahfouz was found practising in Philippi in Cape Town and made his first court appearance on Friday, February 17.
“Dr Rasheed Fareed Mahfouz was found practising as a locum whilst erased from the HPCSA register in 2015 in terms of Section 42(1)(c) of the Health Professions Act.
“During the operation it was established that Dr Augustus, a registered practitioner, employed Dr Mahfouz in his practice. Dr Mahfouz appeared in court on 17 February 2023, and he was remanded in custody,” said Christopher Tsatsawane, head of division for the HPCSA’s corporate affairs.
Mahfouz is expected back in the court on Thursday for his bail hearing.
In the second incident, an operation was conducted in Kayamandi in Stellenbosch where it was found an unregistered doctor had been practising since November 2022.
A joint inspection of where Ilunga Nzabadi, a Congolese national, was practising was conducted.
“During the operation, it was also further established that Dr Bholat, a registered practitioner, (had) employed Mr Ilunga Nzabadi in his practice since November 2022.
“Mr Ilunga Nzabadi was arrested and taken to Stellenbosch SAPS for being in contravention of Section 17(1) of the Health Professions Act,” Tsatsawane said.
The two registered medical doctors have since been reported to the HPCSA’s complaint-handling unit for misconduct.
“The HPCSA requests registered practitioners to refrain from employing unregistered persons as this poses a serious risk to the health and lives of the unsuspecting public. Practising whilst not registered is a criminal offence,” Tsatsawane added.
Members of the public can verify a medical practitioner’s status by calling the HPCSA’s call centre on 021 338 9300/1.