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… takes payment through personal EcoCash number
Brighton Chiseva
MASVINGO – Some patients who have been attended to at Masvingo
Provincial Hospital have alleged that an accountant employed at the institution
is stealing from his employer by using his own personal EcoCash number to
receive payment for hospital fees.
A number of patients confirmed
having been asked to pay the money into Semucle Ganyani’s EcoCash number.
“When I got to the accounts clerk
to pay for the services, I was told that the EcoCash POS machine was not
working but I could send the amount to his cellphone number and he will later
use his own bank card to make the payment to the hospital.
“He gave me a card with his
number and name and I transferred the money and he gave me a receipt. I was
suspicious of the receipt book though everything seemed normal at the surface,”
said one source
Another source said she also
experience a similar incident with Ganyani and was asked to pay the amount due
to his own EcoCash number on the pretext that the EcoCash POS machine was
faulty.
“I did not suspect anything until
many other people began to talk about it. Two other patients who shared a ward
also paid different amounts into his EcoCash number. One of the patients wanted
to pay half his bill amounting to $1 500 using a bankcard but he was asked to
rather use EcoCash as the hospital ostensibly did not allow half payments to be
made by card,” said the source.
When contacted for comment
Ganyani confirmed that he indeed asked some patients to transfer money in his
personal EcoCash wallet but said he only wanted to some mobile money so he
could conveniently buy airtime.
“Sometimes we have problems with
our POS machines and we cannot give receipts when the machine has not produced
proof of payment. So to help patients are in a hurry, I ask them to transfer
the money into my mobile money wallet which I use for airtime and I swipe for
them later,” said Ganyani.
However, a fellow employee said
the hospital had an EcoCash merchant code 74684 through which bills could be
settled even if the POS machine malfunctioned, with handwritten receipts given
once the patient has received the SMS notification with confirmation of the
payment.
When contacted for comment the
Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Julius Chirengwa said he had not yet heard
about the issue and referred further questions to General Surgeon Dr Noel Zulu who
could not be reached for comment by the time of writing.
