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.
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“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.