CIVIL SERVANT BUSTED WITH MEDICAL DRUGS, FIRED

MANZINI – The services of a civil servant under the Ministry of Health, who was found with two boxes of medical supplies during a police raid, have been terminated.

The civil servant was said to have been found in possession of various medical supplies, which he is suspected to have intended to sell for his own benefit.  According to sources, the civil servant was found with the two boxes of medical supplies during the annual routine raids conducted by the police. The raids, it has been gathered, are conducted in all the homesteads surrounding Lusekwane route to Masundvwini before Incwala. It was said on January 4, 2023, when conducting the raids, the police came to a homestead where the civil servant resided.
Sources informed this publication that the Ministry of Health employee rented a flat at the homestead and when the police raided it, they found two boxes filled with pharmaceutical supplies and medical drugs. The raids were conducted in areas surrounding Matsapha, which included Masundvwini, Eteni and New Village. It was gathered that when he was questioned on the ownership of the contents of the boxes, the health employee failed to account for its source or provide proof of purchase.

Scrutinised

The sources stated that when the police scrutinised the contents of the boxes, they discovered that some of the medication included donated items, such as the prime safe primary infection controls, which were valued at E1 658.26. The police also found items which included hydrogen peroxide, paracetamol syrup, cetirizine dihydrochloride, ibuprofen, magnesium hydroxide, calamine lotion, folic acid, providone iodine (1 000 ml) and pyrazinamide. Also among the items were various units of praziquantel, contrimoxazole, isoniazid, albendazole tablets, erythomycine tablets, acyclovir tablets, ferrous sulphate 200mg tablets, ferrous sulphate and folic acid, pyridoxine and aspirin.

The quantity of the items was mostly in singular or two units, with the highest quantity being 11 calamine lotions. There were suspicions that the civil servant, whose name is known to this publication and has been deliberately withheld, had submitted a list of medication to the Central Medical Stores (CMS), to be supplied with it.  The list was purported to have not been authorised by his employer and it resulted in him being in possession of the two boxes of pharmaceutical supplies and medical drugs at his rented flat. It was gathered that the health employee’s work and duty station had a limited need for him to possess medication as he was employed at the Blood Bank.

In February 2023, the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, presented his Forensic Investigation Proposal and Audit of Acquisition, Distribution and Management of Pharmaceuticals Report, where he stated that drugs worth E151.6 million were missing and or unaccounted for, in public health facilities around the country. It is also not the first instance a Ministry of Health employee was found to be using medical drugs and pharmaceutical supplies for personal gain. This publication last year reported that a nurse employed by government brought her own medicines to a pharmacy, which she moonlighted at on weekends. This was detailed in the Retail Pharmacy Survey in May 2022, which reported a litany of findings that were against the legislation set to safeguard public health.

Arrested

Also, at the height of COVID -19, a civil servant under the employ of the Ministry of Health was arrested for the theft of personal protective equipment (PPE), among other items, which were meant for cadres in public health facilities. Furthermore, as the acute shortage of medical drugs and supplies was being reported by this publication, following a number of investigations, insinuations that some of the medication was being stolen to be supposedly sold to mushrooming pharmacies in the various parts of the country started doing the rounds.
This led to an investigation by the ministry, wherein it was uncovered that, among the many one-room retail pharmacies, some had no records of where they sourced their stock while others were owned by civil servants in the health sector.

Meanwhile, subsequent to the raid by law enforcers, the civil servant was slapped with three charges by his employer which included; dishonesty in that he contravened Section 49 (g) of the Public Service Act 5 of 2018 and Section 36 (b) of the Employment Act of 1980, as amended. Section 49 (g) states that; It is misconduct for a public officer to engage in a dishonest act, violence, threats or ill treatment towards the employer of the officer, or towards any member of the family of the employer or any other employee of the undertaking in which the officer is employed’.

On the other hand, Section 36 (b) of the Employment Act of 1980, as amended, states that; ‘It shall be fair for an employer to terminate the services of an employee for any of the following reasons because the employee is guilty of a dishonest act, violence, threats or ill treatment towards his employer, or towards any member of the employer’s family or any other employee of the undertaking in which he is employed’. The civil servant was said to have engaged in these act between the months of November and December 2022, where he supposedly submitted a list to the CMS with 22 items, which were not authorised. The medical supplies which were reportedly found in the two boxes are valued at E11 878.48.

He was also charged for contravening Section 49 (c) and (m) the Public Service Act 5 of 2018 as well as Section 36 (l) of the Employment Act of 1980. Section 49 (c) of the Public Service Act 5 of 2018 states that; ‘It is misconduct for a public officer to use, without the consent of the prescribed authority, any property or facilities provided for the purposes of the public service for some purpose not connected with the official duties of  the officer while Section 49 Sub-section (m) states that; ‘It is misconduct for a public officer to engage in any private activity during working hours or outside working hours using government property or equipment’.

Terminate

On the other hand, Section 36 (l) of the Employment Act of 1980 states that; ‘It shall be fair for the employer to terminate the services of an employee for any other reason which entails for the employer or the undertaking similar detrimental consequences to those set out in this section’. The second count was said to emanate from the fact that in the employee’s rented flat in Matsapha, he was found in possession of government medicines, which he supposedly intended to sell for his personal gain. It has been also gathered that the civil servant was charged with misconduct, which brought the public service into disrepute. It was said his act of being found in possession of the medicines, which subsequently resulted in his arrest, resulted in him contravening Section 48 of the Public Service Act of 2018 and Section 36 of the Employment Act of 1980.

Section 48 of the Public Service Act of 2018 states that; ‘Any act done without reasonable excuse by a public officer, which amounts to a dereliction of duty or failure to perform to proper in a proper manner any duty imposed upon the public officer as such, or which contravenes any enactment relating to the public service or which is otherwise pre-judicial to the efficient conduct of the public service tends to bring the public service into disrepute shall constitute misconduct or unsatisfactory service’.

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