They also stand accused of circumcising under-aged boys in a desperate bid to meet targets and get more financial rewards.
The scandal has since claimed the scalps of some staff members whose contracts were not renewed after the expiry of the old ones at the end of September, while some were withdrawn from the programme.
Officials from both the Ministry of Health and PSH
confirmed the development and said investigations are in progress.
The scam was unearthed during a Data Quality Audit that was
instituted at the beginning of September after an anonymous informer tipped PSH
of the scandal.
ln response, PSH did not renew the contracts of its staff,
which coincidentally had expired at the end of September.
The organisation has since brought in new employees.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Health and Child Care
has withdrawn its entire staff complement that had been deployed for the
outreach programme.
The team has also been replaced with a new one.
Acting Makoni District Medical Officer, Dr Hosea Maringe
confirmed the scandal but refused to shed light, saying investigations are
underway.
“It is true that an issue has arisen in the circumcision
programme where our staff and those from PSH are being accused of recycling
patients’ records, circumcising under-aged boys and presenting non-existent
patients.
“Our District Health Executive dealt with the issue and I
am going through the report before forwarding it to the provincial office,” he
said.
In an e-mailed response to The Manica Post, PSH executive
director and managing trustee, Mr Noah Taruberekera confirmed the matter: “PSH
has been made aware of the allegations and is responding to them according to
our internal policies.
The matter is currently being investigated by both the
Ministry of Health and Child Care and PSH.
The findings will be shared with relevant stakeholders when
the processes have been completed.
“In order to facilitate the due investigation processes,
all staff members who were working during the period in question have been
temporarily put on hold until the process has been completed. Despite the
foregoing, staffing within the organisation is reviewed annually for a year
that runs from October to September.
“PSH has a strict code of ethical conduct, a well published
ethical reporting and a whistle-blowing system. It also has a zero tolerance
policy for ethical misconduct. We take seriously and investigate any
allegations levelled against our staffers,” said Mr Taruberekera.
It is also understood that the organisation is
contemplating taking measures to recover the looted funds.
However, the exact amount of money that was lost through
the scam are not yet available since investigations are still in progress.
A well-placed source confided in The Manica Post that there
was collusion between the staff from the Ministry of Health and Child Care and
those from PSH.
“There was an intricate web between Government nurses and
those from PSH to defraud the programme. For every circumcision conducted,
those between the ages of 15 and 18 receive U$4 while those between 19 and 29
years are paid US$10 as transport fee to a health centre. Only males above 15 are
eligible to be circumcised under this programme.
“An anonymous tip-off reached PSH to the effect that a lot
of shenanigans were taking place in Makoni District and a Data Quality Audit
was instituted. A lot of glaring and unacceptable irregularities were picked.
“It was discovered that boys below the age of 15 were being
circumcised and to cover that up, they were recoded as over 15. When
investigators interviewed the beneficiaries and their parents, including
checking their birth certificates, it came to light that a lot of under-aged
boys had been circumcised.
“Another anomaly is that over 20 percent of the
beneficiaries that were randomly picked for verifications could not be located.
Some of their addresses were non-existent. Phone numbers provided were not
reachable. We believe that the nurses were putting ghost names and pocketing
the transport money,” said the source.
Speaking on the under-age circumcised boys, our source
said: “There is no danger to them because the procedure was done correctly and
professionally, but the motive was to dupe the programme.”
In correspondences to Government departments such as the
Ministries of Health and Child Care; Primary and Secondary Education and the
National Aids Council which were gleaned by The Manica Post, PSH advises
officials not to deal with one Chenjerai Masuka who was heading the programme
in Makoni.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from Masuka were futile
as his mobile number was not reachable. Manica Post
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