Dr Amadeus Shamu
Itai Muzondo
MASVINGO – Shortly after losing and subsequently recovering renal equipment under mysterious circumstances, Masvingo General Hospital has once again lost 11 gas cylinders through a brazen theft case which is suspected to be an inside job.
Provincial Medical Director (PMD) Dr Amadeus Shamu confirmed the theft and expressed worry on the increasing theft of public property at the referral institution.
“It is sad that such theft that disadvantages patients continue recurring at such a big hospital. It is hard for me to answer on ways we have devised to stop the rot but we have since tasked the management to come up with ways they think can lessen such disturbing incidences and we will take it from there.
“For now, we have instructed them to reinforce the porous areas of the hospital fence which we think are used by thieves to take out the loot unnoticed. As I noted earlier on, there is no easy answer to how we can curb this as we are also puzzled on how such important equipment keeps disappearing without being noticed,” said a worried Shamu.
TellZim News is however well informed that before their disappearance, the gas tanks were being kept at the Hospital Equipment Maintenance (HEM) department and two staff members (names supplied) have since been taken in for questioning.
The gas cylinders are used in health institutions to power fridges that store essential drugs.
As part of efforts to strengthen security, the hospital has since started constructing a guard room and erecting a boom gate so that goods that enter and exit the hospital can be monitored more closely.local
