THE police in Bayelsa State have arrested one Akpoviri Jimmy for impersonating a medical doctor.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mike Okoli, paraded the 49-year-old Jimmy before newsmen after a press briefing in Yenagoa on Tuesday.

Okoli represented by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Asinim Butswat, said the fake medical doctor impersonated one Dr Charles Umeh, a serving medical doctor based in Taraba State, while concealing his real name Akpoviri Jimmy.

He said, “The suspect is Urhobo from Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State, and was first discovered in a hospital in Ughelli when he did not know the correct terminologies a qualified medical doctor should know and use.

“The suspect claimed he was working in a hospital in Bayelsa which prompted the hospital in Ughelli to probe him. He will be charged to court upon conclusion of investigations.”

Speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Wisdom Sawyer, said the state government frowns upon quackery which he said was harmful to residents seeking medication in hospitals.

Sawyer, who said the ministry had the capacity to detect any quack as the Anti-Quackery Bill was before the state House of Assembly, stated that the clampdown on quacks and impostors would continue even as he warned such persons to quit.

Adamawa patent medicine seller promotes self as doctor, turns bedrooms to clinic In his remarks, the state Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, Dr Ngowari Torunana said he got information on Monday from the management of the hospital in Yenagoa that they had “restrained a fake medical doctor.”

Torunana, who noted that Jimmy had gone to the clinic to seek employment as a resident doctor, said, “After submitting his credentials at the clinic, he returned to Delta State and raised suspicion in the hospital when he requested that an X-ray of the waist be carried out on a patient.

“He told the hospital in Ughelli that he has been working as a medical doctor in a clinic in Yenagoa for four months and handles most of their surgeries. When he returned to Yenagoa to follow-up on his job application, he was held down by staff of the clinic who invited the police and they arrested him.”

In an interview, Jimmy confessed to have used the academic credentials of Dr Charles Umeh without his knowledge.