A disturbing trend of falsified credentials and forged certificates has been uncovered within Ghana’s medical profession, raising serious alarms about public health and the integrity of the country's healthcare system.

The Medical and Dental Council (MDC), the regulatory body for medical and dental practitioners, has confirmed at least four instances of forgery, highlighting a significant threat to patient safety.

Addressing the media on September 5, the MDC detailed how its rigorous investigative systems, in collaboration with international regulatory bodies, successfully detected the fraudulent activities.

The Council's vigilance prevented these individuals from gaining official credentials, a process that ensures practitioners meet the rigorous standards required to practice medicine in Ghana.

The four cases represent a worrying variety of deceptive practices:

• A diplomat's spouse submitted forged qualifications from both Ireland and Nigeria.
• A fraudulent document was presented to the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) from Ukraine.
• The discovery of a forged permanent certificate, a crucial document for full licensure.
• A case involving the forgery of examination results, a direct attempt to bypass official and mandatory professional exams.

The Registrar of MDC, Dr Divine Ndonbi Banyubala, disclosed that between 2024 and the third quarter of 2025, four individuals were arrested for engaging in unlicensed medical practices, while several are under investigation, with prosecutions pending.

"We indicated that we have had four such cases of forgery of qualifications. In one case, there was a forgery of qualification from Ireland and Nigeria, and this related to the spouse of a diplomat.

"We also had one case of a forged permanent certificate. This was a practitioner who had not yet finished the requirement of the provisional licence to get onto a permanent register, but had gone to clone a permanent register and then put her credentials in there for purposes of acquiring a job somewhere when she was not due to get that. Then there was one case of forgery of examination results," he remarked.

These findings are not isolated incidents but underscore a long-standing challenge in the medical sector.

The Medical and Dental Council's role is to ensure all doctors, both locally and foreign-trained, meet the required standards before they can be registered to practise in Ghana.

This includes verifying their qualifications, a process now revealed to be targeted by sophisticated forgeries.

The MDC has affirmed that these cases constitute prima facie evidence of forgery and fraudulent misrepresentation, a criminal offence under Ghanaian law.

The individuals involved will now face legal and disciplinary scrutiny, which could result in a lengthy prison sentence under the Ghana Medical and Dental Act, 2020 (Act 1058).

The exposure of such a scandal is a stark reminder of the continuous need for vigilance to protect citizens from unqualified practitioners.

As the investigations proceed, the MDC's actions send a clear message that it will not compromise on its mandate to safeguard public health and ensure that only qualified professionals are permitted to provide medical care in the country.