Woman Arrested For Faking Pregnancies Of Hundreds Of Patients

Police in Guinea, West Africa said they arrested a healer for giving women medicines to make them look pregnant, according to reports Wednesday.

N'na Fanta Camara conned several women who were unable to conceive by giving them a mixture of herbs and other medicines that caused their bellies to bloat and look pregnant, BBC reported. According to authorities, she made several thousand dollars a month, with patients paying her $33. The average monthly income in Guinea was $48.

Camara told the police she was only trying to help. Over 700 women between the ages of 17 and 45 were thought to have been affected by Camara’s medicines and “cure.” More than 200 women protested outside the police station in the capital city of Conakry where Camara was held Tuesday.

One of the protesters told BBC: “"It's been a year now since we first went to see this woman. During our first visit, she gave us some medicines of leaves and herbs that made us vomit. She assured us that this was good for us. As one continues to take these medicines, the stomach starts to rise a bit. After a while, we visited again, she examined us by just touching our bellies and she declared us pregnant."

The women also said Camara did not allow them to see a doctor and asked them for chicken and fabrics in thanks after she announced they were pregnant. A few of the women reported looking pregnant for as many as 12 to 16 months. A doctor who examined the women said they risked long-term complications from the treatment.

Camara, however, claimed she had done nothing wrong and was only helping the women. "I work very hard to help [the women] realize their dream but the rest is in the hands of God," she said.

She was expected to be charged by a court with endangering people's lives through fraudulent means, BBC said.

Traditional healers in Africa are not recognized by governments and operated outside formal health structures, according to a 2006 article in the magazine Africa Renewal, published by the United Nations. However, 80 percent of Africans used traditional methods for treatment.

The World Health Organization in 2002 issued its first comprehensive guidelines to help countries like Zimbabwe develop policies to regulate traditional medicine. Doctors for Life, a non-profit organization that brought together doctors, represented doctors in South Africa, which made extensive efforts to bring traditional healers into a legal framework. Through the organization, thousands of health practitioners in the country objected to the government’s plans to legitimize healers.

“Most of the medicines used by traditional practitioners have not been validated scientifically,” stated Doctors for Life, according to the article. “Many people suffer because of the serious complications that arise due to the use of traditional medicines.”