By SIMBARASHE SITHOLE
MVURWI District Hospital administrator Florence Makombe is in soup after she allegedly tried to steal a box of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs which were kept at her office due to lack of storage space at the health institution.
A disciplinary hearing was conducted last week and she has since implicated eight other workers.
Allegations are that sometime in July, Makombe unlawfully took a box containing 100 bottles of ARVs and gave them to an ambulance driver, who subsequently hid them in a disused ambulance in a bid to take them away from the hospital grounds.
It is further alleged that Makombe works part time at a private surgery in Mvurwi. Private dealers are selling ARVs at $500 per bottle.
Concession district medical officer Rachel Sosera confirmed the incident without shedding more light, saying investigations were underway.
“We conducted our first investigations at district level last week and I am not at liberty to divulge much as that will jeopardise the investigations. I can safely say investigations are underway from district level it will go to provincial level so it is still on-going,” Sosera said.
Quizzed on why it took long for them to conduct a disciplinary hearing, Sosera said every suspect was given time to compile a report.
“It took long because every suspect was given time to prepare a defence and as it will go in phases it started at station level now district and next is provincial level,” she said.
Zimbabwe is facing a serious shortage of ARVS due to foreign currency challenges.
