Authorities in the United Kingdom have suspended a Kenyan-born dentist Dr Beatrice Luciola Jepkemoi after receiving several complaints from patients.
The Interim Orders Committee (IOC) of the UK's General Dental Council (GDC) suspended Jepkemoi for 18 months.
The GDC further announced that investigations into the allegations would be conducted within the 18-month period, with the suspension order to be reviewed in six months or earlier if a party requests it.
The body received complaints between February 2018 and April 2018 from patients who had sought orthodontic dental treatment at Beyond Dental Care, Jepkemoi's clinic.
She was accused of failing to provide services despite having received payment and, in some cases, providing poor services forcing patients to spend more money on correcting the mistakes elsewhere.
[caption caption="Dr Beatrice Luciola Jepkemoi (Courtesy)"]
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"The gist of their complaints is that Ms Luciola took advance payment in the sum of several thousand pounds for orthodontic dental treatment from them without starting and/or completing the treatment.
"Some of the patients also alleged that Ms Luciola provided poor orthodontic treatment, leaving them, or their children, in pain and discomfort and having to pay more money to have the treatment corrected elsewhere.
"It is alleged that in some cases, Ms Luciola did not make adequate arrangements for the continuity of their care, including by indicating that arrangements had been made for patients to continue treatment with a different practitioner when in fact they had not," the IOC determination read in part.
She was also accused of failing to respond when contacted by concerned patients and allegedly fleeing to Kenya.
Jepkemoi, however, maintains that she only returned to Kenya to take care of her ailing father.
Her lawyer Bryan Muindi of TripleOKlaw Advocates, told Nation that she was “in Kenya on compassionate leave tending to her ailing father”.
[caption caption="Dr Beatrice Luciola Jepkemoi with a patient (Courtesy)"]
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