MOHW Suspends Three NHL Officers
Staff Writer | Monday June 15, 2020 16:44
Three officers working at the National Health Laboratory (NHL) are reportedly facing the boot after they were recently suspended from work.
Even though it is not clear, speculation is rife that this could be in relation to the legal proceedings instituted by a Block 8 clinic based nurse, who was found to have tested positive a day after he screened legislators at a parliamentary sitting.
Chief public relations officer at MoHW, Doreen Motshegwa could only confirm that three staff members have been suspended at the NHL.
“I can confirm suspension of three officers, but cannot discuss reasons as the matter is being dealt with administratively as is the norm,” she said. Motshegwa would not answer if the matter were in relation to the nurse’s complaints emphasising that the matter will be dealt with internally.
The nurse, Morobi Dinao who, was deployed on April 7, 2020 during the extraordinary parliamentary sitting at Boipuso Hall, doubts whether he ever tested positive for the virus, as he was never shown his results even upon demanding them.
Dinao finds it hard to believe the initial positive results as his intimate partner, who he was with him for the duration of the lockdown, tested negative.
According to a letter dated May 26, 2020 addressed to the Director of Health Services, Dr Malaki Tshipayagae, Dinao is demanding answers regarding his results. Dinao, through his attorney, Uyapo Ndadi said after being told he tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) following a routine test carried out on April 5, he was not shown the results of the test, which was against best clinical practice.
Dinao is demanding that he be given results that are signed by the person who carried out the laboratory tests and the person who approved or confirmed the results and details of the verifications.
Moreover, he wants Tshipayagae to give an account of the delay in providing him with his initial results and a comprehensive answer to all the other irregularities. He is also demanding answers, as the specimen submission form that carried his results was ‘markedly different’ from the one that he completed on the day of test in several ways.
“The form does not have the laboratory personnel signature portion yet the one he duly completed had it. The client had indicated that he had pre-existing medical conditions, being a sore throat and asthma and the results form that he received did not indicate the same as the relevant boxes were not ticked,” further reads the letter. On a further examination, Dinao said he also noticed that the results form at the bottom was cancelled or highlighted in dark so as to conceal what was initially written with no signature provided against the cancellation.
He said this was a concern because he observed that the portion that was cancelled is where the results of his colleagues are stated in their forms.
Lastly, the nurse says he is further disturbed by the fact that when he carried out a follow-up test to confirm whether indeed he was still negative on April 21, 2020 he was told by one Dr Mokgatle that his results were not in the form that she prescribed the test with. He therefore had to test again on April 23, 2020 and the results came out negative the next day so he doubts the integrity of the testing processes or the professionalism of the personnel involved in the processes.