A woman has been arrested for contravention of parts of the Health Professions Act after she was found to have been operating medical practices in Springs in Gauteng. IoL reports that according to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), Sonnet-Mari Brand was allegedly handing out prescriptions to patients.
HPCSA's Priscilla Sekhonyana said in a joint collaboration between the Ekurhuleni East Cluster Crime Intelligence and the Springs police, an inspection was conducted at Brand's practice. "The team discovered that Brand was practising as a specialist pulmonologist without any qualifications and is not registered with the council. It was found that she was fraudulently handing out prescriptions to patients to get schedule medication," she said.
Sekhonyana said Brand had arrived in Springs from Cape Town in April and proceeded to open the two practices. "However, both practices have subsequently shut down. Brand stated that she had been performing consulting work at the Far East Rand Hospital and conducting house calls after hours. Brand was arrested for contravening Section 17(1)(a) as well as Section 40 of the Health Professions Act. She is scheduled to appear soon," she said.
The report says last week, a Butterworth couple was arrested after they were found to have been illegally operating a medical surgery. Josiah Kizit and Henrietta Mukengeshayi were charged for contravening the Health Professions Act as well as fraud, forgery, money laundering and uttering.
Hawks spokesperson, Lwando Zenzile, said they were arrested during a takedown operation led by the Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team assisted by Butterworth Crime Intelligence, SAPS Forensic Sciences Laboratory and the HPCSA.
[link url="https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/woman-arrested-for-operating-fake-medical-practices-in-springs-5f7d4918-6d51-4123-a4ce-7f0c22780148"]Full IoL report[/link]