The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
HEADS are set to roll at United Bulawayo Hospitals after a ‘drug cartel’ was unearthed where the institution is accused of falsifying information to the Government regarding the unavailability of drugs and other resources, prejudicing patients in the process.
The Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Hon Sleiman Kwidini who is on a tour of Government hospitals across the country visited UBH this Thursday morning to get an in-depth appreciation of operations at the hospital.
He had no kind words for the management, including the Chief Medical Officer Dr William Busumani who did not attend the meeting with management and the tour of the hospital.
“It is a disaster, the Government led by His Excellency has tried I think you have seen it. There are people who are taking patients’ lives for granted by not doing their job. Firstly we have seen that our pharmacy is supposed to be filled up but it is unfortunate that they are not doing their job to order medication.
“In the morning we visited Natpharm, and they received the drugs which await these institutions to come and order, but unfortunately for UBH they decided to suspend the chief pharmacist, this suspension we have tried to ask the other hospital management and it seems they were not aware. “The suspension was made by the CMO and the acting operations director, those are the only two people who are doing the suspension, we also found out that there are two nurses who were suspended because maybe they are barriers (in fleecing drugs from the hospital), especially the chief pharmacist, she is a barrier to the cartel of these drugs which are being stolen,” said Hon Kwidini.
Hon Kwidini said the Government has been previously accused of being behind the shortages of drugs and other resources but hospital management at UBH has been the major culprit.
“We have found out that the problem at UBH is not the Government, it is individuals, especially the CMO and operations director. It appears that the Clinical Director (Dr Harrison Rambanapasi) is not aware of what will be happening, it will be hearsay to him.
“I think my recommendation is that there is need as the Ministry to send a team which is supposed to come and investigate because it means within this short period of time we have been here there are so many shenanigans, so many things are happening underground,” said Hon Kwididni.
The deputy minister said people who have been put at the helm of such institutions are letting the Government down.
“They are not doing their job, they are saboteurs, and they are anti-government because how can somebody not order a drug from Natpharm which is there? How can somebody not try to even see that health personnel is scarce but he is going to the extent of suspending the critical staff on full benefits and I do not think the allegations which were laid, warrant a suspension,” he added.
It is also alleged the operations director had hired Southern Incineration Services Company to destroy drugs that were alleged to have expired but another official requested that due diligence be carried out and the drugs were not incinerated which raised a lot of stink as to why the hospital had rushed to destroy the drugs without adequate procedures being carried out.
Hon Kwidini said it is unfortunate that auditors who had been instructed to carry out audits at UBH preempted their findings to members of staff informing them that they were going to be suspended, which he said is an anomaly.
“When an auditor is sent to the ground, he is sent to do work for the good of the Government not for the good of individuals to promote these cartels. The President once asked about what was happening within the ministry about drugs, he has even instructed the Minister to say we need the proper challenges that are happening in the institutions but as you are aware UBH is one of the institutions causing this trouble, especially the management, and they do not have unity for purpose. Each and everyone does what he or she thinks is right for himself and not for the patients,” he said.
@NyembeziMu
