Kano govt sacks 3 medical staff, suspends others over alleged extortion

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

The Kano State Hospitals Management Board has dismissed three medical staff of the Kabo General Hospital for alleged extortion.
Similarly, the board has suspended the accountant, auditor and head of laboratory of the hospital for selling free HIV test kits.
The Executive Secretary of the Board, Dr Mansur Nagoda, announced the sanctions after an unscheduled inspection visit to the facility.
A statement by Samira Sulaiman, spokesperson of the board, said on Monday that Dr Nagoda, who was accompanied by Director General, Kano Centre for Disease Control, KNCDC, Dr Muhammad Abbas and Director General SAKA , Dr Usman Bashir, expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the public facility.
According to Dr Nagoda, the dismissed staff of the X-ray units where caught charging the sum of N12,000 for a procedure that is officially approved for N2,000.
Worst still, the statement said, innocent patients were being forced to pay the illegal charges without any document to show as evidence of payment.
“This act of sabotage and extortion has sent many patients away, thereby leaving the facility to carry out less than 10 X-ray’s per week despite the fact that the two X-ray batteries are functional,” the DG was quoted as saying in the statement.
He said that the suspended accountant, auditor and head of laboratory are to report to the board’s headquarters for further disciplinary action.
“These decisions we took should serve as a deterrent to others. We took an oath of office, so we will stick to that oath and sanitise the health system,” he warned.