Two suspects arrested for operating unlicensed health facilities in Kawangware

Detectives in Nairobi have arrested two people for allegedly operating an unlicensed health facility in Kawangware, as authorities intensify a crackdown on illegal medical centres.

The suspects, Olima Bramwel Douglas, the owner of Dowamed Medicare Centre, and his alleged accomplice, Francisca Otieno Omondi, were apprehended in the Congo area of Dagoretti on Wednesday during a crackdown by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC).

According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the two were found operating a medical facility without a valid licence and practising in an unlicensed medical institution.

“Detectives from the Operation Support Unit (OSU), alongside officers from the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC), apprehended the two individuals engaged in this illicit activity in Kawangware, within Dagoretti,” DCI stated.

The two are currently in custody, undergoing processing pending arraignment in court.

While expressing commitment to dismantle unlicensed health facilities, DCI says they are expected to be charged with operating an unlicensed health institution, an offence punishable by law.

“In collaboration with the KMPDC, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) remains committed to dismantling unlicensed health facilities and protecting the public from quack medical practitioners through sustained nationwide crackdowns,” stated the DCI

The operation comes in the backdrop of a probe regarding a quack dentist in Kawangware who conducted a botched tooth extraction surgery that led to the death of a young man, Amos Isoka, early this month.

He succumbed to complications from the botched tooth extraction.

Isoka passed away on Wednesday, January 14, at Kenyatta National Hospital, where he had been receiving treatment after developing severe swelling of the neck, tongue and chest.

He died in the critical care unit after suffering breathing complications, 15 days after the procedure.