The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has ordered the Ministry of Health to verify the academic credentials of the head of Pediatric Department at Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital, Dr Tesfay Girmay Teklehaimanot, after raising serious concerns over the authenticity of his qualifications.
The committee wants the health ministry to use the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations to contact the universities where Dr Teklehaimanot claims to have studied and establish whether he attended the institutions and whether he was awarded a degree or a diploma.
The development came after the PAC questioned apparent inconsistencies in Dr Teklehaimanot’s academic documents, including differences in the font, colour and size of his name and conflicting references to a Doctor of Medicine degree and a diploma.
Dr Teklehaimanot, a consultant pediatrician who came to Lesotho in 2014, appeared before the PAC on Wednesday to answer questions regarding his qualifications and professional registration.
PAC chairperson, ‘Machabana Lemphane-Letsie said the committee could not accept the documents at face value and wanted independent confirmation from the institutions concerned.
“When we look at these certificates, your name is suddenly written in a different font size and colour from the rest of the certificate. It is as if your name has been pasted onto an original certificate which was not yours,” Lemphane-Letsie said addressing Teklehaimanot.
“Moreover, your certificate says Degree of Doctor of Medicine but at the bottom it says Diploma. On the transcript also, the ‘Diploma’ has been cancelled and on top of it is written degree.
“We want to establish whether you attended these universities and whether you obtained a degree or diploma. We will do that through diplomatic channels,” she added.
The committee also questioned the quality and validity of an online course Dr Teklehaimanot reportedly completed in 2022.
Committee member, Dr Tŝeliso Moroke questioned the appearance of the documents, particularly the presentation of Dr Teklehaimanot’s name on one of the certificates.
“Someone is playing us here. Dr Tesfay’s name here is written in white font as if the initial name was not this one. This kind of quality for a university is not convincing,” Dr Moroke said.
Lemphane-Letsie said the committee would only be satisfied once the universities had independently confirmed the documents.
“I am not convinced as the chairperson of this committee until I get confirmation from these universities verifying these certificates,” she pointed out.
Dr Teklehaimanot is a refugee from Eritrea and grew up in Addis Ababa, according to information presented to the committee.
The hearing also exposed concerns over how foreign doctors are verified before they are allowed to practise in Lesotho.
Director of Clinical Services, Dr Lucy Mapota told the committee that when the Ministry of Health employs health professionals, it considers their qualifications and supporting documents and sends them to the Lesotho Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Council for verification.
The Council is the statutory body responsible for the registration and regulation of medical practitioners, dentists and pharmacists in Lesotho.
“Our right hand that verifies doctors for us is the Lesotho Medical Council,” Dr Mapota explained.
She noted that Dr Teklehaimanot had already been working in Lesotho and was registered with the Medical Council when the Ministry became directly involved with the hospital after the transition from Tšepong.
“Dr Teklehaimanot has been a doctor in Lesotho for a very long time. When he first came to Lesotho, he never went through our verification process,” Dr Mapota said.
She added that the Ministry met with Dr Teklehaimanot between 2021 and 2023 and established that he was a refugee and that he remained in good standing with the Medical Council, with no complaints against his work.
Dr Mapota said the Ministry had also raised questions about the apparent contradiction between a diploma and a degree in Dr Teklehaimanot’s credentials.
“The issue of qualifications named Diploma in the certificate and Degree in the transcripts has been indeed confusing,” she added.
The committee questioned why the Ministry does not independently verify doctors’ credentials instead of relying on the Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Council.
“Does Lesotho have a system or procedure that verifies that such person is indeed a medical doctor? As the Ministry of Health, how do you verify that the credentials or any supporting documents submitted by an individual are legitimate?” Lemphane-Letsie asked.
Dr Mapota said the law gives the Council the mandate to verify doctors, working with the relevant regional body.
The Council was also expected to report to the Ministry consistently, at least quarterly.
However, when pressed to provide reports from the Council, Dr Mapota said she could not produce them, explaining that it was not her mandate to keep such documents.
The Ministry would engage the Council if there were cases where doctors had been issued retention certificates unlawfully or without following proper procedures.
“If there are incidents where doctors were given retention certificates unlawfully or without following proper procedures, we will engage the Lesotho Medical Council to rectify that because the Ministry of Health is entrusted with the lives of Basotho. And if this verification process is not functioning well, it means we have a serious problem,” she told the committee.
The committee further learned that Dr Teklehaimanot’s retention certificate expired in March 2026, although he remains head of the Department at the hospital.
Dr Teklehaimanot said he had been trying to apply for a new retention certificate without success.
Committee members queried how he could continue heading a clinical department while his retention certificate had expired in addition to questions over his academic credentials.
Lemphane-Letsie said the situation was particularly serious because Dr Teklehaimanot heads the department and has significant authority over clinical decisions.
“The risk is that he is head of that department and his say is final. There is a recent case where a child died in that department. And workers who had different opinions on the child’s situation could do nothing because he is the head and then the child died,” she recounted.
“How many more deaths should there be for us to act? We can’t even verify whether these credentials are legitimate.”
The PAC’s reference to the child’s death was made in the context of its concerns about Dr Teklehaimanot’s authority as head of the department and the need for proper professional oversight.
However, the committee did not, during the hearing described in the material, establish that Dr Teklehaimanot’s qualifications or conduct caused the child’s death.
The committee said the matter could point to a wider problem in the verification of foreign doctors working in Lesotho.
Lemphane-Letsie questioned how the country verifies refugees who arrive claiming to have professional qualifications and how it establishes whether they may have left their countries because of professional misconduct.
She claimed that the Medical Council had failed the country by not providing adequate reports on the matter.
“This is a serious issue because these people are entrusted with the lives of our people. If there is need to summon the Medical Council, we will have to. We can’t continue paying people who may not be having proper credentials,” Lemphane-Letsie said.
Dr Moroke said the Ministry of Health may have compromised the safety of Basotho by failing to ensure that medical practitioners are properly verified.
“If we have a health facility like Tšepong in a country that has its legislation and health policy frameworks running the health services in general, at the end these doctors are entrusted with public health.
“There are also private facilities where we have similar issues where doctors are not verified properly. I am afraid we have many of these cases. Why are we allowing these people to come into our country and claim to be what they are not?” he quizzed.
The PAC also questioned Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital Human Resources Manager, ‘Makatleho Lefielo, over the continued payment of doctors without valid retention certificates.
Another committee member, Montoeli Masoetsa, criticised the Medical Council over what he described as a failure to properly carry out its regulatory responsibilities.
