Limpopo health department losing millions to pill theft
POLICE CHASING LEADS, INCLUDING SYNDICATE
THE Limpopo health department could be losing as much as R10-million a year due to the rampant theft of medications and other items.
On Friday, provincial police nabbed two security guards in possession of high-profile medications with a street value of R1.2million, in what was suspected to be a syndicate operation.
The drugs, which include a children’s vaccine, as well as medicine for TB and mental illness, were apparently being removed from the department’s Polokwane depot, which supplies facilities across the province.
The two security guards are expected to appear in the Seshego Magistrate’s Court today, after they were charged with theft.
Yesterday, provincial police spokesman Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe confirmed that the case pointed towards the existence of a larger syndicate group. He said they expected to make more arrests as investigations unfolded.
Ngoepe declined to say whether the group’s reach extended beyond Limpopo as they did not want to reveal information that could jeopardise the investigation.
Spokesman at the provincial health department Thabiso Teffo said they were concerned that theft was chipping away at the department’s already limited resources.
Teffo said judging from some of the incidents that had hit the department, the losses could amount to millions of rands. He said this was creating a supply shortfall in clinics and hospitals.
“This is costing us a lot of money. You can imagine – apart from the R1.2-million – the losses are running to the tune of about R10-million per annum,” he said.
This is not the first instance of theft to hit the department in recent months.
Last year, a nurse from Botlokwa was charged with theft after she was caught trying to sell 24 bottles of antiretroviral (ARV) tablets for R7 500 during an undercover police operation.
In the same year, in Polokwane, Dr Adekunle Ganiyu Adefila was arrested for the illegal possession of 35 ARV medication bottles.
Adefila was charged with fraud and forgery after he was allegedly found to be obtaining other prescription drugs, including morphine, fraudulently.
He was released on R5 000 bail and his case is still ongoing.
Teffo said some officials were also nabbed recently after they were caught with hospital meat, while another case of theft was opened after an iron was stolen from the premises of Mankweng Hospital last week.
He said in the case involving the two security guards, police had been monitoring suspicious movements at a house in Seshego for some time when they discovered boxes containing medications.
Teffo said they believed
“This is costing us a lot of money… to the tune of about R10-million
this was a syndicate involving more people, including officials.
He said the department’s risk unit had noted instances of theft from the depot for some time.
He said some of the theft cases were uncovered after the department made a call for all facilities to tighten security.
Teffo said another concern was that the medications were not being stored at the correct temperatures, which could be harmful to the people who end up buying them on the black market.
“These people are killing our people. We hope police are following each and every lead,” Teffo said.