Student arrested for illegal operations

By Diedre Fanene 04 February 2016, 12:00AM

The Police have arrested a student from the Faculty of Medicine at the National University of Samoa for performing illegal circumcisions.

This was confirmed by the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, yesterday.

According to Leausa, the student had offered to perform the operation at a “cheaper” rate of $70 per operation.

So far, the Ministry has been able to confirm eight operations that were done illegally.

Last month, Leausa said they issued a warning to members of the public about a person who was promoting cheaper operations.

 “The warning has been going around to let the public know not to accept this kind of treatment,” said Leausa.

“The matter is with the police now. They caught the person who’s been doing this.”

The Director General did not say how or where the person was found.

 “He had apparently gone to one of the villages in Savai’i and offered this service,” he said.

“So we are warning members of the public not to accept these kinds of cheap services because it can be very risky.

“It would have been okay if there was a doctor that supervised him but there wasn’t.” 

Leausa also said that the public should’ve thought about this when this person offered them a cheap price. They did not.

The Director General said he is happy that the matter is with the Police now and the person will appear in Court soon.

By Diedre Fanene 04 February 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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