Police Probing Fraud at Suddie Hospital

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, MOPH – The Guyana Police Force are investigating fraud at the Suddie Public Hospital following a recent visit by the Ministerial Task Force.

When Task Force members visited the Hospital Monday the authorities there could not account for several items sent only last week Tuesday by the Materials Management Unit (MMU.

The missing items were not reported to the Regional Health Officer (RHO) the team notified the police.

During the Task Force’s one-day visit to the Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) health institution, several other irregularities were unearthed.

In one instance the Pharmacist at the hospital could not have given account for several ampules of pethidine, codine and morphine.

In another, the Dangerous Drugs Register wasn’t up-to-date. The last entry was made sometime in 2015.

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

A 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 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 MMU senior official said all 20, 000 disposable globes sent for the hospital were also stolen.