TWO employees at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo were yesterday taken to court accused of pocketing $30 paid by a patient for an X-ray.
BY SILAS NKALA
Titus Muvengwa and Busani Mpofu, both of Gwabalanda in Bulawayo, were not asked to plead to abuse of office charges when they appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Merlyn Mutshina.
The magistrate remanded them to May 7 for trial.
Prosecutor Dumisani Ndlovu told the court that on April 24 at 12 noon, Rosemary Ncube went to Mpilo accompanied by her younger sister Pretty Ncube.
Rosemary, who was ill, was then referred to the X-ray department for a spinal scan.
It is the State’s case that Pretty went to the X-ray department, leaving her sister on the ground floor to enquire about the charge for the scan.
On arrival, she allegedly met Muvengwa at the reception, who told her that the X-ray cost $50. Pretty went back to her sister to enquire if she had the $50 and Rosemary told her that she only had $30.
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Muvengwa allegedly connived with Mpofu, who is an X-ray operator. Mpofu asked for the $30 from Rosemary and she complied, before attending to her and pocketing the money.
The offence was discovered when Vengai Mugwidi, a risk and loss control officer, asked for the records from the patient concerning the X-ray and Rosemary failed to produce any.
She instead revealed that she had paid the money to Muvengwa, leading to the pair’s arrest.
