Police probing fraud at Suddie Public Hospital

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is investigating fraudulent activities at the Suddie Public Hospital following a recent visit by the Ministerial Task Force.

According to the Public Health Ministry, when Task Force members visited the Hospital yesterday (Monday, March 27, 2017), the authorities there could not account for several items sent only last week Tuesday, (March 21, 2017) by the Materials Management Unit (MMU). The missing items were not reported to the Regional Health Officer (RHO).

During the Task Force’s one-day visit to the Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) health institution, the Ministry said in one instance, the Pharmacist at the hospital could not give an account for several ampules of pethidine, codeine and morphine, which were sent to the Hospital.

It was also noted that the Dangerous Drugs Register wasn’t up-to-date as the last entry was made sometime in 2015.

Additionally, the team also found instances where the stock of narcotic drugs could not be accounted for, while the pharmacist had extra drugs that were still not recorded as prescribed under the law.

An MMU staffer confirmed Tuesday that 10 items on the list of drugs destined for the Suddie Hospital “either never arrived” or significantly less was received than that which was sent.

“For example, all 100 boxes of the drugs Simvastatin disappeared before arriving at the hospital. Each box contained 100 of the drugs. The official said too that “all 108 bottles of the Paracetamol suspension” also vanished. The MMU employee disclosed that 20 of the 1,000 Ampicillin 500Mg sent disappeared” the Ministry’s statement said.

The MMU senior official said all 20, 000 disposable gloves sent to the hospital were also stolen.