Mahama calls for continental action against fake medical practitioners
President John Dramani Mahama has called for stronger collaboration among African medical regulators to combat fraudulent practitioners and protect patients across the continent.
He said Africa must confront the growing threats posed by forged qualifications, fake professional licences, impersonation, fraudulent continuing professional development certificates, unlawful practices and misleading health claims.
President Mahama made the call at the 28th Annual Conference of the Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) in Accra.
According to him, the presence of a fraudulent practitioner in a consulting room puts every patient who seeks care there at risk, making regulatory cooperation across borders essential.
“When a fraudulent practitioner enters a consulting room, every patient who enters that room becomes vulnerable,” President Mahama said.
He stressed that fraud does not respect national borders and, therefore, African countries must adopt a coordinated continental response.
“No country should become a refuge for a practitioner who has been sanctioned elsewhere,” he warned.
The President further urged medical regulatory authorities to establish secure, lawful and timely systems for sharing verified information about practitioners, saying such data exchange is now critical to patient safety.
He argued that communities should not be exposed to avoidable risks simply because regulators in different countries are unable to share reliable information promptly.
“Secure, lawful, and timely data exchange among African regulatory authorities is therefore no longer optional. It is an essential instrument of patient protection,” he stated.
President Mahama’s call comes amid broader efforts to strengthen health regulation and professional standards across Africa, with the AMCOA conference providing a platform for medical councils to address challenges affecting the quality and safety of healthcare delivery on the continent.
