A medical doctor with Jimeta Clinic and Maternity, Jimeta, Adamawa State, Yakubu Koji, has had his name struck out of the register of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria for cutting off the kidney of a patient named Isa Hamma, who is now dead.

 

A tribunal set up by the council, sitting in Abuja on Friday, found the doctor guilty of the 12 charges preferred against him by the prosecuting counsel.

 

While delivering the verdict of the tribunal, the Chairman of the tribunal, Prof. Abba Hassan, said Koji was guilty of, among other medical offences, engaging in malpractice when he failed to use his considered judgment and sense of honour by acceding to the demand of his patient to undergo a surgery on him.

 

He said, “The respondent exhibited incompetence in the assessment of Hamma. He failed to correctly diagnose his illness and advise him. He undertook a surgical operation on the patient and removed an organ he could not identify.

 

“The respondent failed to refer Hamma in good time when such referral was necessary. He failed to do all that he reasonably ought to have done under the circumstances in the treatment of the patient.

 

“The respondent violated Laws 29.4d, 29.4a, 29.4g, 29.4h, 29.4i, 31, 33, 33.1, 33.0 and 43.3 of the Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria in the 2008 edition. The name of Dr Yakubu Hassan Koji is hereby struck out of the register of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.”

 

Another doctor, Stephen Alayemola, of Philadelphia Specialist Hospital, Ebute Ikorodu, Lagos, was suspended for six months after being found guilty of collecting a huge fee from one Mrs Oyenike Adebajo under the guise that he would carry out assisted reproductive therapy/In-vitro-fertilisation for her, when indeed he was not an expert in fertility issue.

 

The tribunal said he acted infamously by undertaking to carry out ill-defined and unnecessary procedure on the patient and collecting fee with the intention of referring the patient to other practitioners and sharing the fee with them.

 

The tribunal said it was convinced, with the weight of evidence against Alayemola, that he was guilty of five out of the six counts against him. The tribunal, however, said it considered the plea of leniency by his counsel not to deregister him.

 

The panel also suspended for six months Dr Anunobi Ralu of Federal Medical Centre, Asana. He was accused of mismanaging the medical condition of a pregnant woman, Rita Uchebuego, who is now deceased.