MEDICAL doctors’ consultation rooms are supposed to be stable areas for their sufferers, where the sterile walls and clinical charts symbolise professionalism. Nevertheless, this has not been the case for the embattled Dr Hlalele Mofubelu of Naledi Household Sanatorium, who has allegedly been sexually harassing his sufferers.
Some of his victims like advance forward to allotment their tales with the Lesotho Instances.
Sufferer one
A 43-year-feeble Maseru woman, Alinah Mpholo, is amongst the somewhat a couple of ladies who claim to were sexually harassed by Dr Mofubelu.
What started as a routine clinical consultation fleet spiraled into an unsettling ordeal when Dr Mofubelu allegedly moved Ms Mpholo’s lingerie sideways to the touch her privates.
“It was as soon as sometime in 2022 when I visited his health heart because of the back distress. The consultation started with a short interview about my symptoms. After explaining my ache, he advised me to rob away my dresses and safe onto the examination bed. He started transferring my legs against my chest, asking whether I felt any distress. On the time, I in actuality realizing he was as soon as analyzing me–in spite of every little thing, he is a health care provider, and he must soundless know better.
“But then, he took both my legs towards my chest, moved my underwear to the side with one hand, and told me to cough. Stupidly, I did as he asked, though I felt incredibly uncomfortable because I couldn’t understand how this was related to my back pain,” Ms Mpholo recounted.
Dr Mofubelu then proceeded to the touch her internal most facets, which insecure her. He without prolong advised her to safe off the examination bed, stating that they had been performed.
“He ended by touching me, and that’s when I instinctively pushed my legs down. I looked at him in shock, and he just told me to get off the bed because we were finished.”
Felt molested
Ms Mpholo acknowledged she left the cure room in a converse of shock, struggling to direction of what had factual occurred.
“I felt like a little girl who had just been molested by an adult, unsure of who to tell or how to even express what had happened. I was so confused and shaken. I couldn’t even question him–I just left the clinic, unable to make sense of it all,” she acknowledged.
After the examination, Dr Mofubelu prompt that she gets an X-ray. Nevertheless, because of the her rising distrust, she selected to love it performed at a definite health heart and sought a second conception from but any other physician.
“I was supposed to take the X-ray results back to him for further examination, but I no longer trusted him. Instead, I went to a different doctor, a foreigner, who interpreted the results. To my surprise, he didn’t even touch me. He simply asked me to stand and bend forward to assess my mobility. He found nothing on the X-ray and suggested further tests,” she acknowledged.
Medical Council anecdote
After consulting with the second physician, Ms Mpholo came to the conclusion that she had been sexually harassed by Dr Mofubelu. She decided to resort a complaint with the Medical, Dental, and Pharmacy Council of Lesotho. Nevertheless, she says the case by no manner received traction as she was as soon as continuously given the runaround.
“I concluded that Dr Mofubelu had acted inappropriately and filed a complaint with the clinical council. Sadly, the subject by no manner progressed–I used to be as soon as continuously despatched from one office to but any other. Every time I followed up, I used to be as soon as given diverse excuses. The final change I received was as soon as that the case had been handed over to their legal professional. The legal professional later called me, asserting they would assemble a disciplinary panel to demand the subject.
“But by the end of that year, I got pregnant, and I eventually stopped pursuing the case.”
Alarm of extra humiliation
Ms Mpholo by no manner reported the incident to the police, fearing that doing so would most efficient self-discipline her to extra humiliation.
“I didn’t report it to the police. It’s something I’ve only discussed with friends and decided to brush off. I’ve learned that in Lesotho, if there was no penetration, the police don’t take such cases seriously. I didn’t want to expose myself to more humiliation,” she acknowledged.
She is not the easiest one
Ms Mpholo is not the easiest alleged sufferer of Dr Mofubelu. Two other ladies also shared their harrowing experiences with the Lesotho Instances.
Mary Poorteman’s memoir
Ms Mpholo appears not to be the easiest sufferer of the purported physician, as two folk like advance forward to allotment their harrowing experiences with Dr Mofubelu.
One of them, Mary Poorteman, recounted her ordeal, explaining that she had consulted Dr Mofubelu after experiencing severe lower belly cramps.
“Sooner or later between 2014 and 2015, I went to perceive Dr Mofubelu. I used to be as soon as undergoing fertility cure from a health care provider in Bloemfontein and had been trying desperately to conceive. When I started experiencing these cramps, I change into frightened that one thing was as soon as irascible. In its put aside of going to my frequent physician in Bloemfontein, I rushed to him.
“I get chills every time I talk about this. The doctor inserted his fingers into me, insisting that I needed to undress so he could check for an infection. At the time, I was desperate and naïve, so I obliged. He put on gloves and then began rolling his fingers vigorously inside my vagina.”
She described leaving the health heart feeling violated and deeply traumatised. Nevertheless, savor Ms Mpholo, she by no manner reported the incident to the police.
“My mind kept telling me that what happened wasn’t normal–no doctor had ever done that to me before. Even for a Pap smear, they use medical instruments. He didn’t explain anything; he simply commanded me to lie down and undress. I left feeling so dirty. I cried so much. When I got home, I took a shower and cried even more. That experience traumatized me,” she acknowledged.
Yet any other anonymous sufferer
Yet any other woman, who most traditional to stay anonymous, recounted a identical ride from early 2022.
“I went to his clinic thinking I was pregnant after missing my periods for five months. After an ultrasound confirmed I wasn’t pregnant, he insisted on inserting his fingers inside me, claiming he was conducting further tests,” she acknowledged.
She alleged that he persisted the plot until he change into visibly excited.
“The way his finger was moving inside me, I could tell it was no longer medical but sexual. When I confronted him, he pretended to be shocked and quickly ended the examination,” she acknowledged.
She extra alleged that Dr Mofubelu followed her to the loo in a while.
“Luckily, when he arrived, I had already finished peeing, and I stormed out of the toilet. I left that surgery with a heavy heart, feeling raped and confused about whether that had really happened,” she acknowledged.
Her sister later published she had a identical stumble upon with the physician when looking out for cure for migraines.
Mofubelu dismisses the allegations
In his defence, Dr Mofubelu pushed aside the claims, calling them an act of sabotage by disgruntled sufferers whose non-public expectations had been not met.
“I’m a extremely professional particular person, and I appreciate the confidentiality of my sufferers. What you are referring to is merely an are attempting by a couple of folk to sabotage me after their non-public interests had been not fulfilled. When that occurs, they resort to spreading lies to tarnish my recognition.
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“I do not want to sound unprofessional by responding to such matters. There is a lot I know about the person you are referring to, as she has been actively writing about me on social media, but I choose not to engage,” Dr Mofubelu acknowledged.
Merely Combat
Dr Mofubelu is now embroiled in a heated dispute with the Medical, Dental, and Pharmacy Council of Lesotho over the renewal of his Retention Certificate, which authorizes him to examine.
The Retention Certificate grants a registered Council member the right to examine as a clinical practitioner, dentist, or pharmacist and to love their professional note licensed by the Valuable Secretary of the Ministry of Health, in defending with the Public Health Articulate of 1970.
Dr Mofubelu has petitioned the High Court docket, accusing the Council of unlawfully refusing to grant him the Retention Certificate for the 2022/23 financial year and subsequent years. He’s looking out for a judicial overview of the Council’s decision, arguing that it’s irrational, unreasonable, irregular, unlawful, and invalid.
In step with his possess court docket filings, the Council found him guilty of sexually harassing a patient, Rabohlokoa Raphoolo, around June 2022.
He has since challenged the disciplinary proceedings, contending that the committee was as soon as improperly constituted by the Council’s president and vice president. He claims that the refusal to ache his Retention Certificate is an act of retribution for his old actions.
Efforts to manufacture a comment from the Council had been unsuccessful. This reporter was as soon as asked to leave contact details with assurances that Council President, Dr Makamole Lelimo, would return the call, however that by no manner materialised. Additionally, Dr Lelimo’s mobile phone was as soon as unavailable.
