HPCSA arrests six in four provinces, among them a doctor suspended since 2012 who was allegedly still seeing patients

Six people were arrested in ten days for allegedly practising health professions illegally, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has said. Five were working without being registered. The sixth is a doctor the council suspended in 2012.

The arrests took place between 27 October and 5 November in the Western Cape, Limpopo, Gauteng and the Free State, according to a statement issued on 6 November by Priscilla Sekhonyana, the council's head of corporate affairs. Inspectors from the HPCSA carried out the visits and the police made the arrests.

None of the six has been convicted, and the statement gives no court dates. No response from those arrested, or from the practices involved, has been reported.

The suspended doctor

Dr Daniel Andrew Echun was arrested in Randburg on 5 November and held at Randburg police station. The HPCSA says he has been suspended since 2012 and kept practising. It says it reported him to the police in August 2022 and sent him a formal warning in 2023.

He faces charges under sections 17(1) and 19 of the Health Professions Act. The council said the date of his first court appearance was still being confirmed, and that his case would also go to the relevant professional board, because the HPCSA keeps jurisdiction over practitioners it has suspended.

Five without registration

The first arrest was on 27 October in Cape Town, where inspectors visited the Trust Women Clinic after a complaint about unlawful abortion services. The HPCSA says the woman running the facility admitted she was not registered.

A day later, at Dunoon Primary Healthcare Centre, inspectors found a man working as a locum doctor without registration. He told them he had been there since January 2025. He was held at Milnerton police station.

On 29 October a woman was arrested at a dental practice in Polokwane, where the council says she was working as a dentist without being registered.

On 5 November, in a separate operation from the Echun arrest, inspectors went to the Medicomfort 24-Hour Clinic on Bram Fischer Drive in Randburg. A woman working there as a locum doctor said she had practised at the clinic since 1 September. The council's check showed she was not registered.

The sixth arrest was in Sasolburg, at a practice in Fichardt Square, where a man had allegedly worked as an unregistered locum since September 2025.

Registered doctors face their own inquiries

Three of the five unregistered people were working in practices run by doctors who are registered. The HPCSA says the conduct of those three doctors, in Dunoon, Randburg and Sasolburg, will be referred to its professional boards for employing an unregistered person.

Under the Health Professions Act, nobody may practise a regulated health profession without being registered with the council. Sekhonyana said practising without registration "undermines the integrity of the healthcare regulatory system".

Two of the cases stand out for how long they allegedly ran. One locum said he had worked for nearly two years, and the suspended doctor had been reported to the police three years before his arrest. The statement does not explain why earlier action did not stop him.

The arrests add to a run of cases this year. In a parliamentary reply reported in March, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said 49 people had been arrested for practising illegally in the 2024/25 financial year and 20 in 2025/26.

How to check a practitioner

Anyone can look up a doctor, dentist, psychologist or other HPCSA-registered professional on the council's iRegister at www.hpcsa.co.za, or phone the council on 012 338 9300. A practitioner who is suspended or not listed should not be treating patients.

Suspected illegal practice can be reported to the HPCSA's inspectorate or to the police.