….New details emerge, nurses getting US$5 per referral
….Doctors admitting private patients, Hospital losing lots of cash from scheme
By Brighton Chiseva
New details have emerged in the kickback scandal rocking Masvingo Provincial Hospital (MPH), with sources revealing that nurses were allegedly receiving US$5 for each patient referred to private clinics for services available at the hospital.
The scandal has sparked widespread outrage, with calls for accountability as the Ministry of Health and Child Care has already instructed the hospital authorities to carry out investigations.
In trying to dig more on the kick back issue, TellZim News established that the scheme has been ongoing for months, with nurses allegedly working in cahoots with private clinic owners to exploit patients and get paid.
“Some clinics and labs pay US$5 per referral. This is the new norm and the practice happens across Zimbabwe and cannot be stopped easily as nurses are benefiting from it.
“So what happens is, the charges you get when you want to do the test is not the normal charge as the private clinic or lab add an extra US$5 to cater for the nurses. What the nurse does is to simply record the name of the patient and would go anytime to collect his or her ready cash,” said the source.
The sources claim that the nurses would often advise patients to seek medical attention at private clinics, even when the hospital was equipped to handle the procedures.
Sources further revealed another shocking scheme involving doctors working at MPH who have private surgeries and clinics working in cahoots with selected nurses.
According to the sources, these doctors would admit their patients at MPH off the record, without booking them in the hospital database since most of them cannot admit patients at their clinics.
However, this means the patients will use hospital facilities but will not pay a single cent.
The hospital loses a lot of money through the scheme which has a chain that involves the accounting department.
“There is a scheme involving doctors where if a patient needs to be admitted, they will use the hospital facilities. The scheme involves nurses on duty who would see the patients and when the doctors do rounds, they prioritize their patients.
“The scheme is well knotted and it involves the accounting department and the patients brought through the scheme will then be discharged without paying and it’s difficult to trace since there will be no record of them ever being admitted there,” said source.
In return, the nurses would bring their own patients to the doctors and ask them to provide treatment. The nurses would then get paid for all the services provided. However, the hospital would not receive a single cent as well.
“It’s a win-win situation for the doctors and nurses, but the hospital loses out big time. The scheme has been going on for a long time, the reason being that almost everyone is involved somewhere somehow so they protect each other because every department has its owns corruption scheme.
Other sources said the practice of referring patients to private clinics and labs was not peculiar to MPH but was done across the country, with district hospitals also doing the same.
“Go to any private laboratory here in town and sit there observing, there are lots of referrals from hospitals like Ndanga, Msiso, Silveira, Chibi, Gutu, Mwenezi and Chiredzi District Hospitals.
“You would see blood samples being delivered by a Probox and other pirate vehicles,” said a source.
Masvingo Provincial Medical Director Dr Amadeus Shamhu said investigations were being done internally, and no outsider had been deployed, saying they were trying to find ways to curb the corruption.
“No investigation team has been sent yet, however there are internal investigations being done currently. The hospital has since placed notices around the institution to warn people against such and to report anything suspicious,” said Dr Shamhu.
He went on to say they were looking into introducing a system to ensure that it had to be ascertained first that the needed service was not available at the hospital first before a patient could be referred to a private facility.
He said it could be poverty forcing people to engage in such practices but they would put measures to stop the practice and restore sanity at the hospital.
“We are trying to find ways to combat the practice and we will make sure that there is a mechanism in place to make sure that all tests, scans or any other service that are referred outside are not being done within the hospital,” said Dr Shamhu.
Speaking at a press discussion organized by TellZim News at Chevron Hotel on March 5, Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Permanent Secretary Dr Addmore Pazvakavambwa said they had received a report on the matter from higher offices and they were doing what they could to establish the truth and find solutions.
“We received those allegations at a very high level, so we are putting measures in place but I cannot divulge them here. We want to make sure that we have proved beyond doubt, that what is being alleged is true, however, we cannot ignore when the citizenry has said something so investigations will be carried out,” said Dr Pazvakavambwa.
Speaking at the same meeting, Masvingo Provincial Health Services Administrator Samson Nyoni said the power challenges at the Hospital would soon be a thing of the past as there are plans to install a more powerful backup system as the one in use can only be used for lighting.
“There are plans to install a more powerful backup at MPH as the one being used can only be used for lighting,” said Nyoni.
