By Kudakwashe Vhenge and Lloyd Takawira
An audit report in possession of this publication revealed extensive corruption & maladministration at Chitungwiza Central Hospital (CCH) during Minister Obadiah Moyo’s tenure as CEO of the health institution.
Ironically applauds and accolades were given to the then Chief Executive Officer of CCH who is now Minister of Health and Child Care during his time with the health institution, but the audit report reveals a different story as the medical facility was left burdened with contracts from private partners.
The audit report reveals that since the partial privatization of the hospital, revenue has gone down while the partners who were awarded tenders were milking money from the institution without adequate checks and balances.
The contract documents availed to the audit team revealed that the Hospital entered into six contracts with private partners from 2013. These indentures were for the provision of services ranging from pharmacy, radiology, funeral parlour at the hospital mortuary, catering, as well as pathology.
In the agreement, the hospital is said to have surrendered its premises, equipment, staff and entire operations to the private partners in return for a percentage realized from the provision of services to patients.
The arrangement poses a risk of improper safeguarding of assets and compromises service delivery.
As a result, the hospital mortuary was converted into a funeral parlor resulting in storage charges for dead bodies being raised contrary to the Ministry’s standard policy that provides the services for free. Over the period of time, the hospitals’ revenue fell from over $300 thousand dollars in 2013 to a paltry 75 thousand dollars in 2017. As a result, the hospital was failing to pay its suppliers of goods and services at the health institution thereby compromising service delivery.
The audit report also showed that CCH did not have an effective system to determine profit made by its private partners. This saw the institution being prejudiced of hundreds of thousands of dollars as the low commission was being remitted to the health institution.
Ever since assuming office as the health minister, Dr Moyo have been faced with turmoil tasks of dealing with the cholera pandemic which robbed lives earlier last year. Currently, the health sector is in a dire situation with doctors downing tools in demand for better remunerations and improved working conditions.
