Kwekwe General Hospital Mortuary Attendants Accused Of Demanding Bribes From Mourning Families
The Anti-Corruption Commission of Southern Africa Trust (ACT-SA) has accused attendants at Kwekwe General Hospital of allegedly demanding bribes from grieving families in exchange for expedited clearance of their deceased relatives from the mortuary.
In a statement released on Thursday, ACT-SA director Obert Chinhamo claimed that hospital attendants are reportedly soliciting bribes on behalf of doctors to fast-track the necessary paperwork.
Chinhamo also expressed concern that the doctors involved may be unaware of the corrupt actions of certain personnel at the hospital’s mortuary, which could be tarnishing their professional reputations. Said Chinhamo:
ACT-SA has received with concern unfortunate developments at Kwekwe General Hospital in which mourners face difficulties to retrieve bodies of their ones from the mortuary for burial before certain payments are allegedly made to some officials at the mortuary.
It is alleged that these officials at the mortuary solicit money, which they say is for doctors to enable them to sign certain documents before the bodies can be retrieved from the mortuary for burial. The fact that the monies paid are not receipted, raises suspicion of corruption.
However, the hospital’s Acting Medical Superintendent, Dr Bruce Mhondiwa, has dismissed the allegations.
Dr Mhondiwa urged anyone who has made such payments to come forward and report the matter to both the police and the hospital administration. He said:
It’s actually a surprise to me because normally burial orders are for free. Doctors normally write burial orders every morning. I haven’t received any complaints.
Normally we complaints raised at the hospital and it is protocol in the Ministry of Health and Childcare to investigate the complaints and redress the problems and the complaints within seven days.
I urge the community if they are facing challenges at our mortuary to contact the Medical Superintendent over the challenges. We say no to corruption, we don’t want corruption.
No one is supposed to pay for that, there is no fee for that. It’s for free. Please let them come out so that we help them.
More: The Mirror
Tags
