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HOW MEDICAL DRUGS ARE ALLEGEDLY STOLEN AT CMS

08/07/2023 07:48:00 Sabelo Ndzinisa

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MBABANE – The cat is out of the bag.

A Ministry of Health internal report has revealed how medical drugs are being stolen willy-nilly by employees for commercial (business) purposes at the Central Medical Stores (CMS) in Matsapha. This is the same alleged criminal activity that has resulted in a serious shortage of medical drugs and supplies in public hospitals around the country, prompting a public outcry. Two former employees of the CMS recounted during a probe instituted by the Health Ministry how they were able to steal medical drugs from the shelves without anybody noticing.

The Health Ministry commissioned a team of three members, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer (Chairperson), Human Resource Officer Celiwe Masilela (Secretary) and Assistant Director Pharmaceuticals Brenda Mhlanga to conduct a departmental preliminary investigation in terms of regulations 41 of Civil Service Commission (CSC) of 1963 and A944 of Government General Orders. This was after the National Commissioner (NatCom) of Police William Dlamini submitted a memorandum dated January 12, 2023 on the arrest of Statistical Clerk based at Mbabane Government Hospital (blood blank) Bongani Matsebula. The probe by the ministry was further motivated by a report from CMS management dated January 30, 2023 concerning allegations of misconduct by Matsebula.

Arrested

The clerk was arrested for being found in possession of government medical drugs from CMS during a police raid in his rented flat in Matsapha. Matsebula allegedly revealed during the police questioning that he was working with Sanele Shongwe and Meshack Mamba from CMS in the alleged theft of the drugs. The internal report revealed that Matsebula refused to be interviewed in the absence of his lawyer during the probe sessions as his case was still in court. His co-accused Shongwe, according to the report, was hired on contractual terms to support CMS as a storeman, funded by National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA) in March 2019.

Shongwe told the probe team that he was not offered an opportunity for induction on resumption of duty, further alleging that he was not given a copy of his job description, but was informed of same (receive stock and dispatch stock) and that they were expected to rotate after every six months.
Shongwe further narrated that when given his offer letter, he was placed under COVID-19 department receiving stock and moved to dispatch.

Dispatching

It also emerged that during the COVID-19 period, he was working closely with pharmacy technicians who were engaged on temporary basis and upon expiry of their contracts, he was left alone picking and dispatching personal protective equipment (PPE) as it was previously done by the pharmacy technicians. “Frequent visits of Bongani Matsebula to CMS to pick up blood bank stock (PPE) gave them an opportunity to establish a social relationship. This relationship started from the year 2020. In 2022 around October and November, Bongani Matsebula approached Sanele to request for assistance in his business to get some medicine from CMS. Sanele indicated he was not responsible for picking up essential medicine but there are other officers responsible for that. Bongani requested Sanele to identify someone they could work with as they were going to receive money when the deal is successful.

“Sanele approached Meshack Mamba, who agreed to be part of the deal after learning that there was money involved. He reported back to work on the January 17, 2023. On his way home after work, he met his supervisor (Nkosingiphile) who advised him to take leave days which he declined.
“He requested for an apology from the Principal Secretary (PS) for having his name involved in such deals as he was not aware that picking of those medicines was a criminal activity,” reads the report in part.
Mcebo Langa, an officer from Sigodvweni Police Station, also confirmed during the probe that three officers were arrested being Matsebula, Shongwe and Mamba. The officer of the law further stated that Shongwe was now a State witness, hence he was released without appearing in court.
Theft
Langa asserted to the probe team that Matsebula confirmed to being the one who initiated the deal (theft of medical drugs).
The officer also admitted that their office had not requested for the memorandum of prosecution for Mamba, which he promised to follow up.
According to submissions by the suspended CMS Deputy Director Themba Motsa, he was alerted of Matsebula’s arrest by Sigodvweni Police Station.
According to Motsa’s submission, Matsebula allegedly confessed at the police station that he got the medicines through officers from CMS by the name of Shongwe who was allegedly working with Mamba.

“Meshack would pick the medicines from the shelves and Sanele Shongwe would then hide them in the national blood bank PPE order. Bongani Matsebula collected the order and delivered the items in his flat at (Eteteni) before delivery at blood bank (Mbabane),” Motsa submitted.
During the interview, Motsa indicated that Shongwe had resigned with effect from the January 30, 2023, while Mamba was still at work. The deputy director, one of the 15 suspended CMS officers, also stated that newly-recruited officers were being inducted by CMS through the support of chemonics (MOH partner).

The report also revealed that suspended Senior Stores Officer Nkosingiphile Dlamini was hired on contract terms to support CMS and was called by Sigodvweni Police CID (Mr Kunene) to confirm if the medicines that were found in possession of Matsebula were from the medical stores. Dlamini was allegedly shown boxes of the medicines before he compiled the list of the medicines including batch numbers and expiry dates.

Submissions

According to submissions by another witness Gugu Maphalala, who is Chief Blood Bank Technologist, Matsebula was assigned for stock management for the laboratory, recruitment and collection sections and has no government driving authority. Tsabedze also told the probe team that Matsebula was not responsible for generating orders to CMS, further revealing that the list of medicines that were found in the possession of Matsebula were not part of items they order from CMS. Tsabedze alleged that Matsebula would voluntarily accompany the driver to CMS without permission from his supervisor.

Meanwhile, NERCHA’s Human Resource Managers Nolwazi Mngometulu and Nonhlanhla Mavuso submitted that Shongwe had a current contract for a period of 36 months which commenced on October 1, 2021 and ends on September 30, 2024. The NERCHA officers however stated that they were not aware of Shongwe’s resignation and as such, there was no resignation letter found in his file. They informed the probe team that on resignation of an officer, one has to serve one month notice and it emerged that in Shongwe’s case, he allegedly did not serve the stated notice as stipulated in his contract under termination of contract of employment.

Senior Pharmacist Yoliswa Zwane submitted that the main roles of pharmacist are inventory management, quantification and forecasting.
She said when processing requisitions, the pharmacist assigns quantities, pharmacy technicians and warehouse assistants to do physical picking from the shelves, while the storeman checks and dispatches.

Deliveries

Zwane also stated that the logistics officer assigns drivers for deliveries to health facilities, pointing out that PPE orders were initially received using GRN and dispatched using the delivery notebook. She also revealed that excel spreadsheet was used to update PPE stock levels on a weekly basis and stated that during the annual stock take for 2022/2023, some of the PPE stock was captured into the electronic inventory system. Roundy Da-Silva, a driver from blood bank confirmed that he would sometimes go with Matsebula to CMS for picking up supplies. He alleged that Matsebula would sometimes open the boxes with supplies at CMS dispatch to inspect the contents before loading. He also submitted that received supplies were kept in the storeroom at the blood bank under the custody of Matsebula. Da-Silva said he assisted in the offloading of supplies in blood bank storeroom while Matsebula was responsible for packing.