More health sector corruption allegations in Mozambique

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More health sector corruption allegations in Mozambique

7:58 CAT | 25 Jan 2017

Seven officials at the Marrere General Hospital in Nampula province have been detained since December on charges of misappropriation, and five new cases of corruption in the health sector have since surfaced.

In Nampula province in northern Mozambique, more and more cases of corruption are coming to light. Particularly in the health sector, complaints have increased in recent months.

“I asked for a medical certificate for my driving license, for which there is a flat rate, but the person who dealt with me said that it would be delayed and, in order to be able to leave quickly, he asked me for some arbitrary amount,” a complainant who wished to remain anonymous told DW Africa.

It was also as the result of an anonymous complaint that, at the end of December 2016, several employees of the General Hospital of Marrere were arrested on suspicion of misappropriating more than 900,000 meticais (more than EUR 12,000).

According to the prosecution, the money was fraudulently obtained in a scheme that included illegal salary and other fraudulent payments to the accused.

Nampula provincial Anti-Corruption Office spokesperson Francisco Bauque said that “the [fraudulent payments] scheme had been running in this institution since 2015”.

default — Administration officials, nurses and auxiliary staff were allegedly involved in the corruption scheme in Nampula Provincial Hospital

“We received from an anonymous source a file with almost all the necessary elements, including the audit reports, and it was on the basis of this that we deepened the investigations and found that some of the facts constituted embezzlement, which is punishable under the Criminal Code,” Bauque explained.

In all, nine people, including administration officials, nurses and auxiliary staff, were involved in the scheme. The Provincial Anti-Corruption Office has not yet located two of the accused, who have fled.

The chief inspector in the provincial health directorate, Calisto Sampo, says officials risk being fired. “Naturally, all those who are involved in the diversion or attempted misuse of state funds will be fired,” Sampo said.

There are more allegations of corruption in the Mozambique health sector. Last year, Anti-Corruption Offices in Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa in northern Mozambique reported more than 200 suspected cases of corruption, especially in the customs, education and health sectors.

According to Bauque, there are already new cases this year. “In addition to what has already been reported at Marrere General Hospital, we have had five more cases of corruption in the health sector level alone,” he says.

Source: Deutsche Welle