A woman who tricked five different hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal (KNZ) into believing that she was a medical intern is now facing charges of fraud, writing prescriptions and stitching up patient injuries during a two-year scam. Catch Me If You CanLeonardo diCaprio would have been proud of it.
According to the Sunday Times, 23-year-old Nokwanda Ndlovu told employers at several hospitals that she needed to complete her clinical internship to graduate from Wits University, after also embellishing that she was an orphan in an effort to gain their sympathy and rig their judgment.
She led the scam for more than two years between November 2017 and December 2019.
The fraud continued for two years
Earlier this month, the South African made a report of another KZN fraudster who had tricked clients into believing she was a real estate agency, but it’s fair to say that the ramifications of the deception alleged Ndlovu are much more serious.
Ndlovu was able to bounce between a variety of provincial medical facilities, even after its discovery in September 2019.
Barely 20 years old, she started working as an intern at Nongoma Benedictine Hospital in 2017, before moving to Nongoma Hospital between November 2017 and February 2018, then to Hlabisa Hospital later this year. that year.
As she continued to bounce around various KZN hospitals unnoticed, she was later found employed at Nkandla Hospital in June 2019 and then later at Hlengisizwe Community Health Center.
A member of the Hammarsdale community finally whistled Ndlovu in September 2019.
KZN police spokesman Nqobile Gwala said Ndlovu was arrested after details of her fraudulent frenzy were reported to police.
“A fraud case is under investigation by Nkandla SAPS. A 23-year-old suspect was arrested for fraud after posing as a doctor in a hospital in Nkandla, ”she said.
“She was arrested last year. She will appear in court again on July 27. “
False nurse “did not know basic medical processes”
A host of former colleagues of the fraudster told the Sunday Times that Ndlovu had no idea what she was doing, demonstrating a complete lack of knowledge of basic medical principles, but said their judgment of her was clouded by her claims of being orphaned.
A nurse said it was obvious something about the young “doctor” was not right.
“We all knew something was wrong with her. She didn’t know how to sew up patients, she didn’t know the most basic medical processes like reading blood pressure, the difference between diastolic or systolic, what each of these meant – she had no idea.
Another nurse said that she lived in the doctor’s quarters of one of the hospitals that she may have fooled into hiring her.
“She told us that she was an orphan, so we all took pity on her and I think it clouded our judgment. She had no place to live, so they let her stay in the doctors’ quarters.
“She was a nice girl, but after a few weeks there was some gossip because she only had two clothes, and we had students but it’s rare. She gave us the impression that she was in transit. “
“She couldn’t insert a catheter bag either, it was strange.