Accra: Confessed Fake Doctor Busted After His Patient Delivered a Still-born Baby

An alleged fake 37-YEAR-OLD man, practicing as a medical doctor for the past seven years in Accra, has eventually been grabbed by the Odorkor police. Daniel Yartey aka Dr Nartey, was apprehended when one of his patients delivered a still-born baby after she (patient) was given a medication by the suspect and the matter was reported to the police. Daniel Yartey is alleged to have treated several patients in Gbawe and its environs through his quark practice. He was declared wanted in October this year but managed to swerve the police until now, he was grabbed at Odorkor. He is now in the custody of the Odorkor police assisting in investigations. ACP Francis Aboagye Nyarko, Odorkor Divisional Police Commander, said the police investigation spanned a period of about three months after information was received that the suspect was allegedly operating illegally as a private practitioner under the name “Dr Nartey” at his Gbawe residence

One of his patients (name withheld), who reported him to the police, narrated that Daniel, who is well known in the Gbawe area as a medical doctor and working at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, approached her family and introduced himself to them. In October this year, she claimed she was two months pregnant and as a result, she felt feverish. Her husband called on Dr Nartey to assist and when he (Nartey) arrived in their house, he immediately gave her an injection and afterwards administered some drugs on her.

Shortly after receiving the injection, the woman said, she started bleeding and was rushed to the nearby clinic for prompt medical attention. At the clinic, she was referred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital since her condition had become critical. At the hospital, doctors attending to her detected that her ailment was as a result of an attempted abortion, and so a D&C was immediately performed on her to flush out the remaining fetus.

Peeved by the action of ‘Dr’ Nartey, the woman reported the incident to the police for investigations. Preliminary investigations at Korle-Bu revealed that the suspect was not a medical doctor at that health facility. Efforts to get Nartey to help investigate the matter proved futile until Wednesday, December 16, 2015. Upon interrogation, he confessed to the offence and told the police that he was not a medical doctor but a cleaner who had worked at the Korle-Bu Hospital for the past six years before he finally decided to operate as a medical doctor.

He also told the police that he was a medical student from the University of Ghana Medical School, Legon. “He has been giving us conflicting reports so investigations are still ongoing to ascertain the truth but for the time being, he will provisionally be charged for practicing medicine without authority,” ACP Francis Aboagye Nyarko intimated.