…2 quacks who forged Nursing Certificates arrested
A big number of local government public health facilities are infested with quack health workers who find their way on the government pay roll, according to preliminary findings by the Health Monitoring Unit (HMU).
Dr Jackson Ojera Abusu, the director HMU, said this has come as a result of complacency to vet health workers especially medical doctors, nurses and laboratory personnel.
He revealed that the unit has launched a crackdown to eliminate imposters who are putting the life of unsuspecting patients at risk.
“The crackdown has started with Buikwe District [in the central region], where imposters masquerading as enrolled nurses were detained and are currently held at Kira Road Police Station. They have been on the Buikwe District pay roll since 2013,” Dr Abusu said.
He was speaking yesterday during a press conference held at the HMU offices in Kampala after the arrest of the two quack nurses who were apprehended last week in Buikwe District. This was after preliminary investigations revealed they accessed the pay roll using fraudulent academic documents.
The two nurses, Sarah Nakigozi and Justine Nzukidwa, currently detained at Kira Police station were masquerading as enrolled nurses.
“They went on to forge registration certificates from Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council. HMU has confirmed from Mulago School of Nursing and Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council (UNMC) that the above nurses are fictitious and highly fraudulent,” Dr Abusu said.
In their July 23 letter responding to HMU’s request to verify the duo’s professional documents, the Nurses’ Council confirmed that “Nakigozi Sarah and Nzukidwa Justine are not nurses or midwives duly registered or licensed with the UNMC and directly under its mandate and are not allowed to practice nursing or midwifery.”
However Dr Ekwaro Obuku, the president of the Uganda Medical Association (UMA) said the best way to get rid of quack health workers would be channeling the resources to the respective professional bodies that have the mandate to perform the role.
“It is not clear what role this body [HMU] is going to play. For us we cannot work with them because they do not exist in the laws of Uganda,” Dr Obuku in telephone interview.
Dr Abusu, however, said that HMU which was set up by President Museveni in 2009 would be working directly with districts and health facilities to verify and ventilate health workers’ transcripts in the next three months after which they will release a report.
Source : Uganda Monitor
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