How a “Doctor” Suspended in South Africa Allegedly for Fraud Was Able to Obtain a Licence in Alberta
- Mocha Bezirgan
- 18 hours ago
- 12 min read
Warning: This story contains events that may be too distressing for certain audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.
This undercover investigation, spanning international borders, traces how a “doctor” from Nigeria who was suspended in South Africa — allegedly for fraud and misrepresentation — was able to obtain a medical license in Alberta, Canada, where he sent baby Alita home when she was hours away from dying.
In December 2024, Esther Gerbrandt, baby Alita’s mother, took her to Beaverlodge Hospital. She was diagnosed with pneumonia by “Dr.” Ogochukwu Obed Anizoba, who prescribed amoxicillin and sent her home.
Her condition worsened. Two days later the family returned to the hospital, believing she required admission. Dr. Anizoba dismissed their concerns and turned them away again.
“He did not ask us a lot of questions. It was Esther, Alita’s mother, who was doing all the questioning… and he had nothing really to say other than no to all her questions.” — Karina Ludwig, Alita’s aunt
Unsatisfied with the care, the family decided to take Alita to the Grande Prairie hospital first thing the next morning — the main regional hospital, roughly 42 kilometres east of Beaverlodge.
“SHE’S DEAD!”
That morning never came. Alita died in her sleep beside her mother.
“I felt this wetness under her head, and then I saw that she wasn’t moving. It was cold… And then I screamed at Peter. He came running in, and she was just… limp.” — Esther Gerbrandt
Despite efforts by her father and aunt to resuscitate her, it was too late. Alita died approximately eight hours after "Dr." Anizoba dismissed the family's concerns.
“When Esther and Karina both reported their visit with the doctor, I was quite angry when I sensed how he was making them feel like they were being silly for having her there a second time.” — Ben Ludwig, Alita’s grandfather
AUTHORITIES CLOSED THE INVESTIGATION
The family filed a complaint with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA), the self-regulating body responsible for licensing, monitoring, and disciplining doctors.
Despite the seriousness of the concerns, the CPSA consulted an anonymous “expert” with “similar training and scope of practice” and closed the investigation after that expert indicated they would also have sent Alita home.
“The reply that we got… sounded very much like it was wanting to just sweep it away. And that’s no way for matters like this to be attended to. They need much more rapid attention because justice matters, truth matters, and negligence matters — people are getting hurt, and not just hurt, they’re dying.” — Ben Ludwig
“What I wanted the CPSA to do was look into whether he actually went to school, because I’ve talked to a lot of doctors and they had a completely different opinion about what should have happened that evening.” — Esther Gerbrandt
Esther appealed the decision. The appeal was rejected.
“Dr. Anizoba had the requisite medical skills, knowledge, and expertise to form a medical opinion of Alita’s presenting condition — although you may disagree with Dr. Anizoba’s clinical decisions, that is insufficient to warrant a charge of unprofessional conduct or further investigation.” — CPSA
TRAGEDY STRIKES AGAIN
The Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team (HEART) travelled nearly 2,000 kilometres from Manitoba in response to the family’s plea. Four days after the accident they recovered Peter’s body from a depth of approximately 430 feet. The RCMP stated there was no suspicion of foul play.
“Even with Alita’s passing it was hard for us… Sometimes it’s like she should be there, but she isn’t.” — Bernhard Gerbrandt, Peter’s father
Esther wants people to know who Alita and Peter were. She describes Alita as an energetic little girl who loved baths and painting. Videos of her walking with a goat, standing on the counter while dessert was being made, and holding her newborn brother for the first time remain burned into the family’s memory.
Peter, a firefighter and construction worker, is remembered as a kind man who loved outdoors. Esther says she likes to believe his greatest dream — becoming a father — had already come true.
MEDIA BEZIRGAN'S INVESTIGATION
On 12 February 2026, after becoming aware of the tragedy and conducting a preliminary investigation that raised serious red flags about the integrity and legitimacy of “Dr.” Ogochukwu Anizoba’s credentials, Media Bezirgan launched Operation Piano.
It was established that before coming to Canada he had practised in South Africa and had been
suspended in 2012 by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). His primary medical qualification came from a Nigerian university with a documented history of providing false confirmation of graduation to investigators.
Because the HPCSA does not publish reasons for suspensions,
The resulting report stated that Dr. Ogochukwu Anizoba's licence had been withdrawn due to the absence of a valid primary medical degree, reliance on falsified or improperly represented certification, and dishonest representation of eligibility to practise. The firm assessed the public-safety risk as extreme.
"Any historical or ongoing association with the subject in a clinical, advisory, or specialist capacity presents substantial institutional and legal risk." — Professional Registration, Qualification & Practise Report
I then travelled to South Africa to conduct independent due diligence and later to Beaverlodge to give "Dr." Anizoba an opportunity to address the findings.
"I WAS NEVER SUSPENDED"
In late March, after having conducted my independent investigation in South Africa, I attended Beaverlodge Hospital to request an interview. A nurse informed me that "Dr." Anizoba did not wish to speak with me. I left the building, and shortly afterwards he telephoned.
When asked about the South African suspension he replied: “I was never suspended. I have my full licence in South Africa.” Confronted with the HPCSA record showing he remained suspended, he changed his account: “I suspended my licence because I left South Africa.”
"Dr," Anizoba ended the call with a warning: “And please, don’t trace me. Do not! Just back off.”
UNDERCOVER IN SOUTH AFRICA
I travelled undercover in South Africa with a hidden recorder — first to Stellenbosch University near Cape Town, where he claimed to have completed his higher education, and then to the HPCSA headquarters in Pretoria.
South Africa is a country of extreme violence and entrenched corruption; even the HPCSA has been the subject of a Special Investigating Unit probe into allegations that staff accepted bribes in exchange for exam passes and registrations. More than a dozen employees were suspended; the full findings have still not been released.
Stellenbosch University could not confirm "Dr." Anizoba's attendance or graduation. A local source who knew students and an administrator in the relevant faculty had them search email directories and administrative records. Neither Anizoba brother could be located.
“They couldn’t find anything that corresponded or correlated with them. It raises suspicion. Was he a student there? Was he not a student? Or what happened?” — Stellenbosch source
University staff directed formal verification requests to a third-party service that required personal details only the doctors themselves would possess, effectively preventing independent confirmation.
At the university it also became clear that Dr. Ogochukwu Anizoba has a brother, Dr. Tochukwu Gideon Anizoba. HPCSA records show the two men shared an address, sat board examinations on the same date, and appear to have graduated from Stellenbosch in the same period. Both later practised in rural Alberta.
The degree of coordination between them means that questions about the legitimacy of one necessarily raise questions about the other.
THE SOUTH AFRICAN RECORD
Before examining the brother’s parallel history, it is necessary to look carefully at the regulatory findings against "Dr." Ogochukwu Obed Anizoba himself.
In early 2026, we commissioned an enhanced professional registration, qualification and practice verification report from a South African data solutions firm with access to internal regulatory databases. The findings were unambiguous.
According to the report, Dr. Anizoba’s medical license was withdrawn with effect from 28 February 2012. The withdrawal was not an administrative lapse or a voluntary surrender. It followed what the records describe as “substantive qualification and compliance irregularities identified during review.”
The newly identified grounds for the license withdrawal were listed as follows:
Non-possession of a valid Bachelor of Medicine / Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB or equivalent) within the required prescribed timeframe.
Submission and/or reliance on falsified, misleading, or improperly represented certification.
Dishonest representation of eligibility to practice as a medical practitioner and specialist.
In plain terms, the South African regulatory material indicates that the man who later examined baby Alita in an Alberta hospital had already been found, years earlier, not to possess a valid primary medical degree and to have misrepresented his eligibility to practice.
"And then Canada just hired him?" — Esther Gerbrandt
This is the central fact that the CPSA appears never to have confronted in any meaningful way. A physician whose license had been withdrawn in South Africa over questions of fundamental qualification and dishonest representation was later licensed by the CPSA and placed in a position of clinical responsibility by the AHS for rural patients, including a two-and-a-half-year-old child.
When later confronted directly about the suspension, "Dr." Anizoba first denied it entirely, stating he had never been suspended and still held a full license in South Africa. When told that the Health Professions Council of South Africa listed him as suspended, he changed his account and claimed he had suspended himself because he no longer worked there.
"A doctor like Anizoba, if indeed this is discovered to be an issue that needs to be addressed, lays burdens on a young woman like that that she shouldn’t have to carry. She has much more inclination to blame herself, and it would be very beneficial for her if other people would find the fault in places where it really lies, because it doesn’t really lie with her. As much as she wants to put it on herself, it doesn’t lie with her." — Ben Ludwig, grandfather of Alita
Self-suspension is not a recognized regulatory category. Suspension is an adverse action taken by the regulator. The South African verification material does not support the claim that the withdrawal was voluntary or administrative.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE CPSA AND AHS
If the findings in the South African report are accurate, the implications for Canadian institutions in the death of baby Alita could be serious.
The CPSA licensed a physician whose primary medical qualification had already been rejected by another jurisdiction on grounds of non-possession of a valid degree and dishonest representation.
The CPSA then defended that physician’s clinical judgment in the death of baby Alita, stating he possessed “the requisite medical skills, knowledge, and expertise.” That conclusion sits in direct tension with the South African assessment that he was never lawfully qualified in the first place.
Alberta Health Services employed him, placed him in a position of sole or primary responsibility in a rural hospital, and left him to assess and discharge patients, including a critically ill child. If the foundational credential was invalid, then every act of diagnosis and treatment that followed was performed by someone who, according to the South African material, lacked lawful authority to practice.
The South African report frames the risk as extreme and the legal exposure as high. For the CPSA and AHS, the corresponding question is whether their own processes were robust enough to detect a problem of this magnitude before a child was placed in that physician’s care. The record available so far suggests they were not.
The AHS has not responded to address our findings.
CPSA APPROVES OVER 99% OF LICENCE APPLICATIONS
In Alberta, according to CPSA data, out of 7,077 applicants for licensure between 2018 and 2025, only 37 were denied — a grant rate of 99.5%.
In practical terms, once the paperwork is in order, a licence is granted in the overwhelming majority of cases. Numbers suggests that licenses have been handed out in Alberta like candy.
This is the environment in which a physician suspended in South Africa over questions of fundamental qualification was able to obtain an Alberta license and be placed in a rural hospital.
THE APPROVED JURISDICTION LOOPHOLE
Alberta’s Approved Jurisdiction Route grants South African-registered doctors major exemptions — from exams, clinical evaluations, and supervised practice.
This continues despite serious corruption problems at the Health Professions Council of South Africa, including the bribery investigation that led to multiple staff suspensions.
The problems start earlier. Nigeria’s medical regulator is underfunded and, according to its own public records, has sanctioned virtually no one. Fake or invalid credentials can circulate with little consequence.
The CPSA then relies on the honesty of the applicant. When both the origin country and the transit country have weak enforcement, that reliance becomes a structural failure.
"If it was just one man who snuck pass, and needs to be stopped, that'd be one thing, but if there is a system that's allowing it, and being lax for whatever purpose, what kind of reassurances do we as a Canadian family have that we can ever have safe medical help when we needed? It really destabilizes trust a great degree." — Ben Ludwig
"Even though it hurts more than I could ever have imagined, this has made me feel like this isn't our home, our home is bigger." — Esther Gerbrandt
THE BROTHER WITH TWO NAMES
Much like “Dr.” Ogochukwu Anizoba, his brother — who also ended up practising in rural Alberta — raises serious questions of his own.
Our investigation established that Dr. Tochukwu Gideon Anizoba has practised in Alberta under two identities. Court records from a 2016–2018 dispute show that a High Prairie clinic tried to recruit him under the name “Tobby Anizoba.”
Alberta Health Services initially refused to sponsor his Practice Readiness Assessment, then later sponsored him in Westlock instead.
Although Dr. Tochukwu (also known as Tobby) was not a party to the lawsuit, the case centred on him. Both sides therefore produced records concerning him, including their communications with him and, most importantly, his 2017 CV.
These documents indicate that “Dr.” Ogochukwu’s brother also appears to have misrepresented himself.
On 25 July 2017 he formally accepted the Westlock position. One month later he wrote to the High Prairie clinic saying he was still “considering” the Westlock offer.
CPSA records list his Alberta career as beginning only in 2024. There is no public registration under the name Tobby Anizoba. He has given three different graduation years for the same medical degree: 2000 on LinkedIn, 2001 on his 2017 CV, and 2002 on the CPSA register. Even though the CPSA had already restricted him from practising obstetrics, one month later AHS publicly welcomed him as a “newly recruited” physician and praised his obstetric skills.
Both brothers were introduced by AHS in nearly identical language — as Nigerian doctors who had merely completed training in South Africa. Both had in fact been fully registered practitioners there. Dr. Tochukwu Gideon Anizoba (Tobby Anizoba) was given repeated chances to comment, but did not respond.
WHO IS HIRING THEM?
The official overseeing physician recruitment and placement in the North Zone is Dr. Jane Ojedokun, a Nigerian-trained physician and AHS North Zone Medical Director. Under her leadership the share of Nigerian-trained doctors welcomed into the region rose far above previous directors. Some of those recruits also worked at Life Medical Clinic in Whitecourt, the private clinic associated with her.
Data complied through welcoming statements released by the AHS north-zone since 2015 shows that Dr. Ojedokun hired more Nigerian trained doctors than all of her predecesors combined.
In 2018, as Community Medical Director in Whitecourt, she fought a competing clinic while representing the AHS, warning of “poor or substandard care.”
Councillors called her letter self-serving and a “veiled threat.” Data compiled through welcoming statements released by AHS North Zone since 2015 shows that Dr. Ojedokun hired more Nigerian-trained doctors than all of her predecessors combined.
She holds authority over who practises medicine across a vast region of Alberta today — the same region where the Anizobas practise. The pattern of hiring, the public misstatements, and the unresolved questions about the doctors she welcomes and oversees raise a direct issue of judgment.
If she was treating the town of Whitecourt as her exclusive economic zone back then by leveraging her position with AHS for her own private interests, does she continue that condemned gatekeeping behaviour across northern Alberta today?
Dr. Ojedokun did not respond to our media inquiry.
BANNED FROM ALL AHS HOSPITALS
Due to the gravity of the revelations from South Africa regarding “Dr.” Ogochukwu Anizoba, and the serious consequences they could have on his life, I returned to Beaverlodge Hospital to give him a final chance to address them. Instead of answers, I found something else.
I have been informed by an RCMP officer that “Dr.” Ogochukwu Anizoba had filed a complaint against me, falsely claiming that on my first visit back in March I harassed him. As a result, AHS banned me from all hospitals for a full year.
The Canadian Constitutional Foundation has since written a letter urging AHS to reverse the ban and remain in compliance with Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The real victim of "Dr." Anizoba's misrepresentations is not me, but baby Alita, and her family.
Esther has raised concerns that "Dr." Anizoba has also made misrepresentations to the CPSA during the short-lived "investigation."
HOW MANY MORE ANIZOBAS OUT THERE?
A weak origin system that cannot police its own credentials. A transit jurisdiction willing to register first and ask questions later. A Canadian regulator that grants licences at a rate of 99 percent and treats South African registration as a free pass. A health authority that publicly praises skills a doctor is already forbidden to use, and places a physician suspended elsewhere alone in a rural hospital.
The result is a two-and-a-half-year-old girl sent home to die, and a set of institutions that closed the file, offered no meaningful answers, and continued as before.
This is not a tragedy that simply happened. It is the predictable outcome of a system that chose, and continues to choose politics and speed over integrity.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to all sources of information, and to the financial contributors who made this investigation possible. I hope you are proud of the work and of the answers we were able to bring from South Africa back to Alberta — and to Alita’s family.
Support for Alita’s Family
Esther continues to be a strong woman, raising Alex and Rafael. She and her family are determined to fight for justice. Fighting for justice in Canada is not cheap, and baby Alita’s family deserves every help they can get.
Here is the link to their GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/esther-lost-her-daughter-and-husband-in-2-recent-tragedies
Support for HEART
The Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team (HEART) does critical work helping Canadians in their hour of need, as they did for Alita’s family after her father’s kayak overturned. Here is the link to their donation page: https://www.hearteam.ca/donate/
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This international investigation took several months, hundreds of hours, and was funded entirely by voluntary donations from the people of Canada.
There are many other cases like this one — other families, other questionable credentials, other institutional failures — that still need to be investigated and exposed. Currently, we cannot continue this work without support.
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