Some doctors and nurses in public healthcare institutions are reportedly working in cooperation with laboratory professionals to steer patients towards using specific private sector laboratories, despite the availability of similar services at lower costs in government-run facilities.
According to The Herald, some medical professionals have been observed recommending particular laboratories for various tests such as blood, urine or stool samples, and in many cases, even providing a contact number for someone who can collect the samples on the laboratory’s behalf.
The selected private laboratories are said to have staff on standby at hospitals, ready to quickly collect samples and return the results directly to the patient’s bedside.
The Medical Laboratory and Clinical Scientists Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe has vowed to take action, as they believe the actions of the laboratories are exacerbating the financial burden on patients, particularly those from low-income backgrounds who may feel compelled to use the recommended private services.
Speaking at a Health Professions Authority familiarisation meeting between councils under its purview and the media on Tuesday, 06 August, the med lab council’s registrar, Agnes Chigora, said:
If you go to Government institutions, at times you see motorbikes stationed there. Does that mean the public lab which is there is not offering those tests?
It seems they are working with other health practitioners, with nurses and doctors and they ensure that for any lab tests which are required, they demand that those tests come from specific laboratories.
As a client, if I send my parent to a public institution, it means that is what I can afford. But for someone to insist that they want a test done at a particular lab, which is very expensive, it’s not fair to our people.
Chigora urged the public to report any instances of such malpractice to her offices or the Health Professions Authority.
She also warned medical practitioners involved in this practice that they could face disciplinary action.
Chigora asserted that the primary duty of doctors and nurses was to provide quality care to their patients, and this included making informed decisions about laboratory services that are in the best interest of the patient, not their financial gain.
To combat the corruption, Chigora said the council, working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, would soon carry out a certification exercise for all laboratories to ensure that only those operating above board remained in operation. She said:
At the advent of COVID-19, everybody thought it was time to make money; labs were opened right, left, and centre.
The Health Professions Authority does the routine inspection (of the labs), but we as a council, are going a step further.
We are moving around these institutions, making sure that the laboratories meet the minimum standards required.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care, in collaboration with the council, has come up with a national certification programme.
We have trained auditors who are going around laboratories and we have a certain level, which the labs have to reach.
Pharmacists Council of Zimbabwe registrar Alois Karonga said the council had received various reports of malpractices among pharmacists. He said:
Issues of malpractices that the council has dealt with which are on the rise, among others, include dispensing prescription medicines without prescription from medical doctors, selling expired and unregistered medicines and leaving pharmacies operating without registered pharmacists.
These are some of the transgressions for which the council has brought pharmacists up for disciplinary inquiries.
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