MASVINGO General Hospital medical superintendent Dr Noel Zulu has suspended 17 staffers who had access to the hospital pharmacy after an audit revealed that there were anomalies in medicine quantities.
Masvingo Provincial Medical Director (PMD) Dr Amadeus Shamhu confirmed the development.
“I can confirm that 17 staffers with access to the pharmacy have been suspended from work after an audit revealed that some medicines are missing. We do not have value for the missing medicines,” said Dr Shamhu.
Among the suspended staffers are nurses, general hands and drivers. Efforts to get a comment from Dr Zulu were fruitless.
The workers who were initially suspended from duty for 14 days with benefits on 16 January were summoned to a hearing on 19 January and sent on forced leave on 8 February.
“Following your 14-day suspension from duty and its expiry thereto on 3 February 2023, you were supposed to report for work on 06 February 2023, however, the investigation process is still ongoing. As such, you are hereby put on forced leave with full benefits until the investigations are completed. We hope this investigation should be completed within the shortest possible time,” reads the memo dated 8 February and signed by Dr Zulu.
Some affected staffers who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation said there was no audit leading to their suspension.
“Dr Zulu suspended us but no audit was carried out, it was just a regular medicine level check by one pharmacist and he never asked us what happened to the stocks. They cannot say it was an audit. We share medicines with other hospitals and furthermore we were supposed to have been suspended by the human resources officer and not the medical superintendent,” said one of the affected staffers.
Another staffer said only five of the 17 workers were summoned to a disciplinary hearing.
“Only five staffers were summoned to appear before a disciplinary hearing on 19 January, and we are still waiting for the outcome 20 days later. We suspect witch-hunting,” said another affected staffer. – Sunday News
