Watch; Stolen medicines seized in Zambezia

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Watch; Stolen medicines seized in Zambezia

9:20 CAT | 28 May 2019

Photo: Miramar

Mozambique’s Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) last week seized significant amounts of medicines, apparently stolen from the National Health Service, and arrested a man accused of selling them in the district of Mopeia, in the central province of Zambezia.

According to a report on the independent television station STV, the suspect claimed he was innocent and that the medicines did not belong to him. He said he had received them from a worker at the Mungano Health Centre, in the administrative post of Campo.

“I was just a transporter of the medicines”, he claimed. “The nurse from the Mungano health centre just asked for my taxi services”.

The amount the nurse asked him to carry weighed too much, so one of the various plastic bags full of medicines was removed to make it easier to carry the rest. The man said he is a fisherman, and has no relation with the nurse. He did not explain how much he was being paid to carry the medicines.

SERNIC officer Rosario Basilio said the police are looking for the nurse and intend to arrest him.

The Zambezia provincial chief health inspector, Jaime Barage, said the health authorities have been working with the police to solve the problem of theft of medicines, since the image of the health sector is severely damaged when patients are told the medicines they need are not in stock.

“We have been noting cases of the illicit sale of medicines”, said Barage. Other recent cases in Zambezia had occurred in the districts of Alto Molocue and Gile. People arrested in those cases are now facing criminal charges.