WINDHOEK – A woman who has accused an Outjo doctor of uncouth behaviour stands by her words and says she is prepared to stand in a court of law to prove her accusations.
Niita Elago filed a complaint with the Outjo Police, CR 07/01/2014, against Dr Erich Kesslau in which she claimed the doctor treated her “rudely” after she questioned him about the best medical option for a contraception. In the police statement, Elago said that Kesslau apparently said she was “wasting” his time as she was trying to be clever with her questions.
“Then he was referring to me as you people, as there [were] people also questioning him,” read the statement that she made to the police. She claimed that the doctor said “voetsek” and told her to leave his office.
“Let him go ahead. I want to know what the ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) will investigate. All we wanted was an apology,” she said. On another occasion, Elago said that she took her daughter to Kesslau’s practice, but the doctor apparently only prescribed medicine for her child without examining her.
“I didn’t go for friendship there. I have worked with doctors before at Namdeb and I understand that they are sometimes under pressure, but they have never insulted me,” she said. Kesslau has denied the allegations and vowed to take Elago and her husband, Erastus Elia who wrote a letter to the Health Professions Council of Namibia and the English daily that first published the story for defamation and character assassination. In a counter accusation in an Afrikaans daily, Kesslau alleged Elago tried to get treated for a procedure that is not covered by her medical aid and that she wanted him to then make a claim for it as a contraceptive.
He reportedly refused to do that, since that would have amounted to fraud. About accusations that he did not treat Elago’s baby, but merely prescribed medication to which the child did not respond, Kesslau asked, “what is the wrong medicine?”
He declined to respond to the allegation, saying that as a professional, he abides by doctor-patient confidentiality. He further accused Elia of instigating racial hatred against him and said Elia had no clue about what he was saying when he accused him of racism. But Elia claims that Kesslau refused to speak to him when he tried to resolve the matter.
“There are only two doctors in Outjo and many patients support what happened and have also experienced what we experienced,” said Elia.
In the letter of complaint to Health Professions Council of Namibia, Elia accused Kesslau of among others, giving their five-month-old baby incorrect medication and causing harm to the patient (Elago) both emotionally and psychologically.
By Magreth Nunuhe