New scandal hits alternative health council

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Two homeopaths holding top positions in the organisation that regulates the conduct of all South African homeopaths are being investigated for apparent fraudulent qualifications.

This is the latest scandal to hit the Allied Health Professionals Council of SA (AHPCSA), the statutory body established by government to regulate natural healers. Last month, Registrar Leonie MacDonald resigned after Health-e/INN exposed council-related corruption and nepotism.

Johann Prinsloo, the chairperson of the professional board for Homeopaths, Naturopaths and Phytotherapists which falls under the council, claims in a sworn affidavit to have obtained both a doctorate in naturopathy from the SA Institute of Naturopathy and a doctorate of homeopathy from the SA Faculty of Homeopathic Medicine in 1982. He would have been 22 years old at the time.

However, the government ordered all private institutions offering homeopathy training to close in 1979.

This was confirmed both by Dr WJ van der Veen, who was registrar of Associated Health Professions Council at that time and Dr Alby Ford, who is also a representative on the Professional Board with Prinsloo.

‘It is absolutely not possible for someone to have graduated from a private institution after 1979,’ said Ford.

Prinsloo also claims a doctorate of science in ‘integrated medicine’ from St George University International, an Internet-based company registered in the West Indies that is described as a ‘degree mill’ by the Office of Degree Authorisation in the USA

In response to questions about his CV, Prinsloo said that ‘our courses in those days were only three years. The courses offered in those days were concurrent’. He did not answer further queries.

Professor Motlhanbane Moiloa, head of the school of natural medicine at the University of the Western Cape and the homeopathy representative on the AHPCSA, also claims a doctorate from St George University International.

Moiloa says that he studied pre-medical science at the University of the North, yet the university describes him as ‘unknown’.

Meanwhile, the British Institute of Homeopathy withdrew a fellowship Moiloa was given in 1999 for “bringing the BIH into disrepute”.

However, Moiloa says he ‘swears by all his qualifications’.

But Moiloa’s students have complained to Professor Ratie Mpofu, UWC’s Dean of Community and Health Sciences, about the poor quality of his teaching and have asked her to investigate his qualifications.

One student who asked not to be named said she would take legal action against UWC should Moiloa’s qualifications prove to be fake.

All attempts to get comment from the dean failed and she has since gone on a month’s holiday. The students have resolved to boycott Moiloa’s lectures until the dean addresses their concerns.

Last year, when Moiloa was head of the homeopathy department at the University of Johannesburg, one of his students managed to get her fees refunded on the basis of the poor quality of lecturing in his department. She also raised his questionable qualifications with the university authorities.

‘If I had the money, I would have taken legal action against him and the university for fraud,’ said the student, who gave up a lucrative business to study fulltime at the University of Johannesburg after being told by the AHPCSA that it would not register her as a homeopath unless she did so.

She and the UWC students were afraid to go on record in case this jeopardised their chances of being registered with the AHPCSA as homeopaths.

Meanwhile, the acting Registrar of the AHPCSA, Debbie Drake-Hoffman, said that the council had verified both Moiloa and Prinsloo’s qualifications and had not reason to doubt them. Prinsloo often acts as an expert witness for the council in cases against other homeopaths.

The AHPCSA ‘ which was set up to regulate a wide range of natural healers ‘ has been widely criticised for the way in which natural healers get registered.

Dr Andreas Kafaleadelis, chairperson of the SA Naturopaths Association, this week joined the long list of professional associations unhappy with the way in which the AHPCSA is operating.

‘The AHPCSA’s first responsibility is to protect the public by regulating the modalities under its control. The representatives on the professional boards are supposed to be elected by the professional associations, but unfortunately that has not been the case. The people in positions of authority don’t have the necessary credentials,’ said Kafaleadelis.

‘The professional boards should draw up a code of conduct that is agreed on practitioners, and take this to the Council. But at the moment, there is very little communication or co-operation with the Council, and we are not given proper notice of meetings,’ he added.

One of the big problems, said Kafaleadelis, was that the Council drew up registration exams for practitioners and appointed invigilators ‘without any control or input from the professional associations. The big question is: who administers the exams that decide which practitioners should be registered?’

Kafaleadelis said he had been quite happy to sit the council registration exams, but only seven people had done so yet 173 naturopaths were registered with the council ‘so where did the others come from’?

The health department says its deputy director-general, Dr Percy Mahlati, is ‘investigating the matter’ of the alleged fake qualifications.

However, Dr Ruth Rabinowitz, the IFP spokesperson for Health and a homeopath herself, has called for a complete independent investigation into allegations.