The case of Nthabeleng Precious Ramashala, the woman who was arrested for posing as a medical doctor at the Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital, has been postponed to August to give police more time to verify her residential address.
Ramashala, 37, made a brief fifth court appearance at the Tembisa magistrate’s court on Wednesday.
She is facing charges of contravention of the Health Act (impersonating a medical doctor) and for being in possession of presumed stolen property.
The presumed stolen property is the stethoscope that was dangling around her neck when she was arrested. She was arrested last month on June 18 while doing the rounds in the hospital’s wards.
Police need to verify the address she gave
During the court proceedings, magistrate Mamokete Sihlangu postponed the matter to August 5. The postponement was to give police more time to verify the residential address Ramashala provided. This is the address of the place Ramashala will stay if she is granted bail.
In the last three weeks, Ramashala provided the court with her mother’s and aunt’s residential addresses. They were places where she would stay if she is granted bail. Both her mother and aunt told police they wanted nothing to do with her.
Ramashala remains in police custody. Her bail application has not yet begun.
Meanwhile, according to the charge sheet submitted to court by police, Ramashala mentioned her residential address as unit 702 at a Hillbrow block of flats.
Gave fake address, mom and aunt won’t take her in
However, security guards and tenants there told Sunday World they have never heard of her. Also that she doesn’t live there. While she gave her address as a seventh-floor unit, security guards confirmed the building only goes up to six floors. This meant Ramashala may have misled the police about her residential address.
According to a police source close to the case, Ramashala gained access to the hospital’s ward. There, she introduced herself as a surgeon doctor to the person she was treating. She also gave her [patient] medication.
The Gauteng department of health said Ramashala was nabbed in a ward while doing the rounds. She had a stethoscope dangling around her neck.
Nurses at hospital raised alarm
Nurses who spotted her and saw nothing doctoral about her demeanour raised the alarm.
“Police were called to the scene, and the preliminary investigation revealed that she was a bogus doctor. The suspect was arrested. And she was charged with impersonating a medical practitioner,” said Gauteng police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo.
Gauteng health department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba gave details of the case. He said a preliminary report from the department revealed that Ramashala was admitted as a patient at the same hospital. She was admitted from May 23 to 28 at the very ward where she was arrested.
