Prosecutors suspect Dr. Obengfo is feigning sickness

An Accra District Court has ordered the Ridge Hospital to produce a comprehensive medical report on the owner of Advanced Bodysculpt Centre, Dr Dominc Obeng-Andoh, to determine whether he is feigning sickness. The order came after the prosecution informed the court that the accused, who is charged with murder, had “woefully refused” to appear before the court Tuesday, hiding under the cover of accessing healthcare at the Ridge Hospital. The court said the medical director’s report should specifically disclose the progress made by Dr Obeng-Andoh from May 29, 2018, the day he was admitted at the hospital, till date. The medical director of Ridge is expected to produce the report at the next hearing of the case on June 19, 2018. READ: Obengfo gets GHC50,000 bail amid deteriorating health The prosecution, therefore, prayed the court to order the medical director of Ridge Hospital to appear before the court to provide it with medical report of Dr Obeng-Andoh who has been charged with murder. He is also facing another charge of practising medicine without licence and operating an unlicensed medical facility. He has been granted bail on that particular case but remains in police custody on the charge of murder. READ: Dr. Obengfo charged with murder, court remands him for two weeks Because, he is not well, he has been on admission at the Ridge Hospital since his arrest. ‘Under cover of admission’ In court on Tuesday, the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Simon Apiorsornu, said when the investigator handling the case went to the hospital, the accused told him that he cannot come to court because he was unwell. The investigator, he said, then went to the see the administrator and the medical director both of whom confirmed that the accused was not sick and was “only hiding under the cover of admission.” The prosecutor, who argued that the accused was facing a similar charge at the Circuit Court where he was using the same modus to claim that he was unfit to stand trial, produced a letter to confirm that the accused was fit to stand trial. “As we stand now, no sickness has been diagnosed to show that the accused cannot stand on his feet to stand trial,” the prosecutor told the court, presided over by Ms Efua Sackey. READ: Obengfo Hospital owner falls sick in police cells Chief Inspector Apiorsornu added that if Dr Obeng-Andoh should be on admission, he should rather be admitted to the Police Hospital where there were specialists to take care of him. “We want to put on record that the accused has been on admission at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital since his admission and there is no medical record to show that he cannot stand trial,” he said. He, therefore, prayed the court to issue an order to the Medical Director of the hospital to appear before the court to furnish it with details of the accused’s health condition. He informed the court that while police investigations were ongoing, an autopsy would be conducted today [Tuesday] on the body of the Ms Stacy Offei Darko, a Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan (NEIP) who died at the Obengfo Hospital. Deteriorating condition Counsel for the accused, Mr Jonathan Dziasu told the court that the prosecution had misinformed the court that his client was fit to stand trial when the medical director of the Ridge Hospital had allowed the accused to be admitted at the facility. According to him, he went to the hospital to see his client to prepare him for court Tuesday but was only allowed to meet the accused for five minutes after specialists had attended to him. He said he told the leader of the team to do their best to ensure his client would appear before the court Tuesday but the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) informed him (counsel) that Dr Obeng-Andoh’s condition had “deteriorated.” “Once my client is certified to be fit, we will make him available to stand trial,” he assured the court, saying the defence team was ready to cooperate with police investigation. According to the facts of the case, in July 2015, investigations by the Medical and Dental Council (MDC) revealed that Dr Obeng-Andoh had failed to renew his annual registration to practise since 2013. The council, after further investigations, reported the matter to the police, and on December 20, 2016 the police went to the Obengfo Hospital to arrest Dr Obeng-Andoh. “The police met him in the process of performing certain medical procedures on someone. According to the police, further investigations also revealed that Dr Obeng-Andoh had no license for his health facility, as required by law. Source Graphic]]>