The Ekiti State Branch of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has distanced itself from Olalekan Timothy Fasipe, a suspected fake doctor who was recently apprehended on charges of forging his registration certificate with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).
Olalekan, who works for the Ekiti State Hospital Management Board, had been presenting himself as a qualified doctor without possessing the necessary certificates and qualifications.
This was contained in a statement signed by the state NMA Chairman, Dr Babatunde Rosiji and the Secretary, Dr Moses Dada on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti.
According to the statement, the association had been on a crusade to address medical quackery in partnership with the State Government through the Ministry of Health and Human Services.
The statement reads, “We are currently rattled with the arrest of Olalekan Timothy Fasipe, an employee of the Hospitals’ Management Board, who also served as a member of Ekiti NMA State Officers’ Committee until his arrest.
“We are in receipt of a correspondence from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, which affirmed that the name ‘Fasipe Olalekan Timothy’ is not on the Register of Medical Practitioners in Nigeria and we are aware that arising from this, he has been arrested and currently being prosecuted as advised by the MDCN.
“Upon the recent discovery, we have communicated Mr. Olalekan Timothy Fasipe to desist from parading himself as a doctor or as a member of our Association having been found to lack the minimal qualifications that confer such rights and we are by this release dissociating our Association from him and his activities.
“It is in this regard that we have been very cooperative as always with the relevant agencies of government to ensure that justice is done.
“Ours is a noble profession with very high ethical standards as our calling places on us the demand to care for human lives; a calling which is tasking but also brings so much gratification to be privileged to have such a critical role.
“The training of medical doctors is rigorous and it culminates in the inclusion of a medical graduate’s name on the register of Medical Practitioners in Nigeria, whether foreign-trained or locally-trained.
“We have remained in close communication with the Hospitals’ Management Board and the State Ministry of Health and Human Services and we are doing everything possible to ensure that the case is thoroughly prosecuted.
“For the avoidance of doubt, anyone whose name is not on the register of Medical Practitioners in Nigeria who parades himself as a medical doctor is an impostor and a criminal.
“We are also using this opportunity to sound a note of warning to everyone whose name is not on the register of medical practitioners in Nigeria who may be parading himself or herself as a medical doctor in Ekiti State that the arms of the law will certainly catch up with you.”