KAMPALA.
A fake medical doctor who has been conducting surgeries and caused the deaths of multiple patients has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to 15 charges.
Francis Taulula ,27 pleaded guilty to charges of forgery, uttering false documents, and obtaining registration by false pretense.
He confessed to the crimes under the plea bargain arrangement, where an accused admits the alleged offence and in return is handed a lenient sentence on conviction.
Appearing before Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi of the Buganda Road Court, Taulula on Wednesday , a resident of Pallisa Town Council in eastern Uganda, admitted to fabricating academic documents and infiltrating the health system with fake credentials.
“By the plea bargain agreement dated July 29, 2025, entered between the state, represented by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and the convict, which plea bargain agreement has been endorsed by this court, I hereby sentence the convict,” the trial Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi said.
The trial chief magistrate sentenced him to two years and 15 days for each of the first seven counts of forgery and one year and six months for each count on uttering false document. All sentences to run concurrently. On the charge of obtaining registration by false pretense, he received a further one year and fifteen days.
Additionally, Taulula has been ordered to refund Shs21.6 million to the government within two years of his release, money he earned as a monthly allowance during his fraudulent internship at Hoima Hospital.
Taulula’s arrest followed a shocking investigation revealing how he secured internship placements, conducted surgeries unsupervised and attempted to acquire full registration as a doctor using forged documents.
“He used forged degree certificates and transcripts from Mount Kenya University and even impersonated a Gulu University student. This was not only a violation of the law, it cost lives,” said the magistrate during sentencing.
According to the plea bargain agreement filed in court, Taulula presented forged academic documents to the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council (UMDPC) in 2022, securing a provisional registration certificate. This enabled him to obtain an internship placement at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital, where he worked for a full year, receiving a monthly government allowance of Shs1.8 million.
During this period, he conducted major and minor surgeries in departments including paediatrics, obstetrics, and gynaecology. Tragically, his incompetence led to the death of three patients: Harriet Atugonza, Scovia Atuhura, and Gladys Pifua.
“Some of these procedures were conducted without specialist supervision. Atuhura bled to death after a negligent intervention. Pifua died from a post-surgery infection, while Atugonza suffered aspiration during an operation, deaths that were all preventable,” Prosecution led by Ms Terpista Nam submitted.
Court documents indicate that despite these incidents, Taulula evaded scrutiny and in May 2023, applied for full registration with the UMDPC, submitting a forged degree certificate and academic transcript. But suspicion arose when the title of the degree read Bachelor in Medicine and Surgery, deviating from the standard Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.
According to the court, the council then contacted Mount Kenya University which confirmed Taulula was never their student.
“The documents were fake,” said the Registrar of UMDPC, Dr Ivan Kisuule.
This discovery prompted immediate investigations and an alert to law enforcement.
Further inquiries revealed that in 2024, Taulula had also forged a Gulu University student ID and a recommendation letter allegedly signed by the Academic Registrar, Dr. Jerry Bagaya, which he presented to the Kumi Municipal Council in an application for a volunteer placement at Kumi Health Centre IV.
He was finally arrested on October 4, 2024, by the Health Monitoring Unit while working at the same facility. At the time of arrest, he had been operating under the pretence of a qualified medical doctor despite having only completed UACE (A-level education).
During mitigation, Taulula’s lawyer pointed to his youthful age, lack of prior convictions, remorse and the fact that he pleaded guilty, sparing the court a full trial. His lawyer further noted that he was the sole caregiver of his elderly father and a three-year-old child and suffered from Post Physical Traumatic Syndrome, which limits his mobility.
But the court held that his actions amounted to a catastrophic breach of medical ethics and public trust.
“He impersonated a doctor, operated on innocent patients and left behind a trail of pain and grief. This court must send a strong signal that such deception, especially in the medical field, cannot go unpunished,” ruled Chief Magistrate Kayizzi.
Taulula plans to return to his parents’ home in Budaka district and engage in subsistence farming to rebuild his life once he’s done serving his sentence.