Kumasi, Nov. 21, GNA - The Nurses and Midwives Council of Ghana (NMCG) has mounted an intensive search for the arrest of Miss Lily Boye Aboagye for posing as a nurse at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) since May this year.

The search followed the refusal of Miss Aboagye to meet the Director of Nursing Services of KATH and officials from the NMCG on Monday morning, as was previously arranged.

Miss Aboagye, who was on duty on Monday morning, was able to sneak out of the hospital when the meeting was about to take place. She is alleged to have forged certificates of the Council and used the registration number of a genuine nurse who was registered by the Council in 1958 to seek employment at KATH.

Briefing the media at the hospital in Kumasi on Monday, Mrs Margaret Atiemo, Director of Nursing Services, said after going through the file and documents of Miss Aboagye, she became suspicious of her registration number and the year she completed nursing training school at KATH.

Miss Aboagye who had 1186 as her nursing registration number claimed to have completed training school in 1991. Mrs Atiemo said with this information, she further called for the file of Miss Aboagye from the training school and it came to light from a testimonial which the then Principal of the school wrote for her that, even though she was admitted from 1987 to 1991, Miss Aboagye could not complete her course "due to some domestic problems".

She said she then decided to consult the NMCG to ascertain the authenticity of the certificate of Miss Aboagye and it was detected that she was using someone's certificate to practice as a nurse. Mrs Atiemo said from records on her file, Miss Aboagye had practiced as a nurse at the County Hospital in Kumasi before she was employed at KATH in May this year.

Mr Felix Nyanteh, Supervising Authority (Education and Research) of the NMCG, said after thorough research it was found that the registration number 1186 belonged to a genuine nurse who was registered in 1958 the time Miss Aboagye was not even born.

He said the signatures of the Registrar and the Chairman of the Council on the certificate were also found to have been forged. Mr Nyanteh appealed to all managers of health facilities both private and public to emulate the example of KATH by reporting any suspicious characters who might pose as nurses to the Council. He also urged them to verify the authenticity of every certificate of registration they received from prospective employees from the Council as that was the only way the system could be ridded of quacks.