The number of bogus nurses working in South Africa has significantly increased, a private credentials verification firm warned on Wednesday.
There was a growing number of ”colleges” claiming to train nurses, said Ina van der Merwe, chief executive of Kroll MIE.
”We come across the most beautifully designed diplomas and degree certificates on a daily basis that are utterly and totally bogus,” Van der Merwe said.
Her warning comes just days after the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) launched a probe into the qualifications of more than 100 000 South African doctors.
It also follows the South African Nursing Council’s (SANC) caution to prospective nurses to be on the lookout for unregistered training institutions offering ”unrecognised training in home-based care and health-care work”.
The medical profession as a whole has been the target of fraudsters for some time, but nursing appears to be ”the flavour of the month” when it comes to fake qualifications, said Van der Merwe.
”The only way for a potential employer to be certain is to do a thorough pre-employment screening through an accredited pre-employment screening company,” she said.
The SANC has urged students to check the credentials of institutions with the council before enrolling. It will not recognise qualifications or certificates of students trained at illegal institutions, said SANC chief executive and registrar Hasina Subedar.
The HPCSA recently dismissed the co-ordinator of its committee for foreign-qualified practitioners for fraudulently registering 11 doctors who were allowed to practise in state hospitals, even though they failed evaluation tests on entering South Africa. – Sapa