ANALYSIS:THE IMPORTANCE of rigorously checking information provided by doctors, especially those coming from abroad, when they are applying for jobs here has been brought into sharp focus by the case of a Nigerian doctor who claimed to have a lot more surgical experience than he actually had when he took up a job in Kilkenny, writes EITHNE DONNELLAN
Dr Okwu Timothy Okwu, who claimed to have more than 1½ years’ surgical experience in Nigeria, was hired at St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, last year and was there about five months before it was discovered he had presented false information on his CV. It had not been possible to check all the references he provided. The hospital’s manpower manager, Dan McCarthy, said this was not unusual when dealing with African or Asian countries.
The hospital where he said he got the surgical experience did not provide a reference. However, two of three references sought were obtained.
He said that during a random review of the doctor’s file in November 2008, he noticed discrepancies in the information the doctor provided in his CV and the information he provided in a form sent off for Garda clearance. One suggested he was working in Nigeria, the other that he was living in Dublin at the same time.
Dr Okwu claimed yesterday he did get a few weeks’ surgical experience at the Federal Staff Hospital in Nigeria, where he was supposed to have been for close to 20 months, according to his CV. But he said he was unable to get documents from the hospital to prove this up to now because the hospital had moved.
Ultimately no patients came to harm, as Dr Okwu was never going to operate on patients on his own in Kilkenny. He was taken on as part of a surgical training scheme run by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) which interviewed him for the Kilkenny job. It does raise the question of what could have happened if he had been allowed to operate on patients on his own.
The incident highlights the dangers of not checking all references and of taking information provided on CVs at face value.
It appears, though, from evidence given at a medical council fitness to practise committee inquiry into Dr Okwu’s conduct, that the RCSI very much depends on doctors being truthful in their CVs.
Prof Oscar Traynor from the RCSI said the college had to place a considerable degree of faith in the honesty and integrity of doctors in their CVs. Prof Traynor also admitted that data provided by Dr Okwu to the RCSI when he applied for his training post in February 2008 was inconsistent but that this hadn’t been “picked up”. The doctor had submitted an application form and a CV – one saying he had worked as a senior house officer for nearly 20 months in Nigeria, the other that he worked as a registrar, which is a far more senior post.
Given it has since come to light that another doctor applying for a job in Kilkenny also claimed to have experience he didn’t have, one would wonder how extensive this potentially dangerous habit is and if it might be slipping under the radar in more instances.