Written by Patience Nyangove
Thursday, 10 September 2009
THE Medical and Dental Council of Namibia has started investigating Dr Matti Kimberg for illegally conducting abortions at his Eros surgery.
Council Deputy Registrar, Cornelius Weyulu, confirmed the investigation saying Dr Panduleni Itula officially launched a complaint against Dr Kimberg.
Under Namibian law abortion is illegal unless it is medically deemed that a pregnancy is a health risk to the mother or in cases of rape and incest.
Informanté exposed Dr Kimberg and Dr Kenny Abrahams from Khomasdal as some of the doctors conducting illegal abortions in Namibia.
“We did receive his letter (Dr Itula) of complaint. We will refer the case to the Preliminary Investigation Committee of the Medical and Dental Council to start with the investigation against Dr Kimberg over the allegations. The Preliminary Investigating Committee will request the accused person to respond to the accusations formally within a minimum period of 21 working days.
“The Preliminary Investigating Committee will then sit down and look at the merit of the case before communicating its findings to the full Council,” he said.
Weyulu allayed fears that the investigation might be biased since Dr Kimberg is the Vice President of the Council saying he would neither take part in the preliminary investigation nor attend meetings where the case will be discussed.
“He is definitely not going to be involved. He has to be excused from taking part.”
Weyulu said at this point Dr Abrahams was not being investigated because no formal complaint had been lodged with the Council.
“This is a tricky situation because for us to launch an investigation into alleged misconduct of a practitioner, we should have a formal complaint lodged. If we base our investigation on newspaper articles we will face difficulties in finding evidence and having witnesses to prove the case.
“As you know any illegal abortion is in the first place a contravention of the Abortion and Sterilization Act, which is a criminal offence. If there was a police investigation in this case and the Prosecutor General decides to prosecute, it would be easier for the Council to request for the findings of the court once the criminal proceeding has been finalised and if the practitioner was found guilty of an offence based on its investigation.
“So as of now we don’t have any basis to charge Dr Abrahams, as we can’t simply send him a newspaper article as the basis for our investigations,” he said.
Dr Itula in his complaint said given that abortion is illegal in Namibia Dr Kimberg may have breached his oath of office, if the allegations are proved to be valid.
He also accused the Medical and Dental Council of Namibia for failing to respond to the potential public outcry as reflected in the newspapers and Dr Kimberg’s obvious failure to responsibly and professionally refute the allegations immediately.
“There is an urgent need to restore the reputation of the Medical and Dental Council by the institution (through) an immediate and thorough investigation to confirm or exonerate Dr Kimberg from these extremely damaging allegations.”
He further said the health council was a member of the International Association of Medical authorities and as such the alleged unprofessional conduct of its vice-president was likely to bring the Council into disrepute.
Dr Itula also said Dr Kimberg’s alleged misconduct would also cause the public to lose trust in the Council.
He called for the suspension of Dr Kimberg to allow investigations and adjudication by an independent appropriately appointed authority. “Because of the serious nature of the allegations, and the position in the Council of the person against whom the allegations had been levelled, the vice president of the medical and dental council, an honourable course of action would be to seek the immediate suspension of Dr Matti Kimberg in accordance with Section 10 (8) or Section 9(2) pending an investigation and adjudication by an independent appropriately appointed authority.”
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