A Pietermaritzburg-based doctor, Navind Dayanand, is expected to appear before the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) on two charges in Durban on Monday.
This comes after Brendan Pillay, who was previously employed by
Dayanand as an accountant at the Daymed Private Hospital, reported him to the regulatory body.
Pillay alleged that he had a
consultation with a doctor at the
hospital and was prescribed scheduled medication, only to discover that the doctor, a Cuban national, was not registered to practice in South Africa.
“He issued a prescription for
scheduled medication and a sick note all under the credentials of Dr Navind Dayanand. What made me feel that he is not a doctor was that he was unable to give me a proper diagnosis,” said Pillay.
The first charge pertains to this doctor, Juan Luis Elutil Yings, who used the name Dr Omar as an alias. According to the charge sheet, it’s alleged that Dayanand had knowingly allowed Yings, who was not a registered doctor, to treat, manage, prescribe medication and issue medical certificates to patients between 2003 and 2018.
The charge sheet states that in doing so, Dayanand had exposed patients to danger or harm, “Whereas in fact, you knew that such person was not registered and authorised to practice as such, and carry out the above duties.”
In an affidavit seen by the Sunday Tribune, Yings said he arrived in South Africa in 1998 and started working at the Private Hospital in 2003. When he met Dayanand, he told him that he had qualified as a medical doctor in Cuba but had since been “erased” by the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
Yings stated in the affidavit that Dayanand said he could still employ him as a medical doctor at Daymed Private Hospital. He said they agreed on a starting salary of R3 000 which increased to R17 000 over the years.
“The money goes into an account under the name of Dr Omar, which is the current name I am using. Dr Dayanand is fully aware of this,” wrote Yings in the affidavit which was written at the Mountain Rise police station in July 2017.
The second charge related to the period between June 22, 2016, to August 16, 2018, when “certain statements of account” for professional services related to Pillay were either incorrect, false, was not entitled to or that the accounts were drafted in such a way “so as to cause financial prejudice or potential prejudice to the medical schemes concerned.”
Pillay said he eventually left Daymed Private Hospital because he came across several “irregularities” during the course of his work.
on Saturday, Dayanand’s advocate Shameela Jasat said all the claims against her client were “without merit”.
“Dr Dayanand will not be afforded a fair and proper hearing, his constitutional rights have been infringed,” said Jasat. She also accused the HPCSA of failing to adhere to its own standards.
She said when the charge sheet against Dayanand first surfaced on social media in September, it was brought to the council’s attention but it had failed to act.