Fake doctor roams freely for seven months at Parirenyatwa

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Staff Reporter

HARARE — For close to seven months, a man donned a white coat and put a stethoscope around his neck and attended to thousands who passed through Parirenyatwa Hospital’s casualty department.

Yet, he was not a qualified doctor.

How he carried on undetected for all that time remains a mystery. However, his luck ran out when one vigilant member of staff in the casualty department doubted his medical proficiency and alerted authorities who had him arrested.

Embarrassed hospital authorities issued a terse statement yesterday saying they had just discovered their casualty department had been infiltrated by a fake medical doctor.

He had posed, for all that time as a physician registrar. “The suspect has been handed over to the police who are now dealing with the matter,” they said.

Admire Chisi, a 25-year-old Zimre Park man, was rumbled by health staff who grew concerned over his “medical proficiency”, the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals said in a statement.

Chisi posed as a physician registrar at a time during which doctors were on strike over poor pay and lack of Personal Protective Equipment to keep themselves safe from the coronavirus.

Hospital authorities were scrambling to review all the patients that were seen by Chisi, while also seeking to find out if he was planted at the hospital by the government or he was just a conman.

“On October 20, 2020, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals discovered that the Accident and Emergency Department had been infiltrated by a fake medical doctor who posed as a physician registrar,” the hospital said in a statement.

“The matter was discovered after our vigilant casualty staff doubted his medical proficiency and made some inquiries. The suspect has been handed over to the police who are now handling the matter.”