SAMA concerned over prevalence of fake and unlicensed doctors

JOHANNESBURG - The South African Medical Association says it's concerned over the prevalence of illegal doctors in the country.

Health Minister Joe Phaahla has confirmed that they have arrested 124 fake doctors.

READ: HPCSA busts fake doctors

The Health Professions Council of SA established an office to clamp down on these bogus doctors.

The minister has indicated that these unregistered practitioners are common in the private sector.

SAMA chairperson, Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa explained how this syndicate operates, ''this is a known occurrence across the globe, South Africa is not an exception, even locally, we need to applaud the HPCSA that has cracked down on this matter."

"First of all, it's people with no or incomplete medical training, some of them operates as part of the syndicate, they obtain practice numbers of registered doctors. [The] other group is doctors with qualifications obtained outside SA, those are deemed as doctors who should not be practising in the country."