State Attorney to summon police investigator over TTH scandal

The Attorney General Department in the Northern region has warned that a subpoena will be issued for a police investigator leading investigations into a well-coordinated scandal that broke more than a month ago at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

This has become necessary after some equipment meant for a special treatment facility by senior staff of the hospital were found to be missing.

Regional Principal State Attorney, Mr. Salia Qudus said he would order for the docket to be brought before her outfit by Wednesday to enforce prosecution of all persons indicted in the matter.

Usually, cases that have to be forwarded to the State Attorney Department for “advise” are done so after police investigation, no matter how long it takes but Mr. Qudus said the State was taking special interest in this particular case because of the public outcry that generated.

Background

In January 2018, hospital authorities detected that dozens of equipment for an emergency facility known as Infectious Disease Treatment Centre (IDTC) had gone missing.

The facility was funded at a cost of 1.5 million cedis by a South Korean aid agency known as Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), to provide special care for patients with deadly infection such as Ebola.

The equipment totalling half a million dollars were stored in a container and left on the premises waiting for installation after inauguration of the premier facility late in December last year.

The BNI through painstaking investigations later uncovered all the equipment at a private facility, Universal Health Clinic, belonging to some senior staff of the hospital including one pathologist, Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim.

The BNI found a web of conspiracy involving these senior staff and a store keeper who had access to the keys of the container.

It was disclosed that the store keeper by name Kumbeiri Thomas moved the equipment to a private location and later sold it to the Dr. Ibrahim’s private hospital.

The police was brought in to handle the matter and about nine persons were subsequently arrested, all staff of the hospital, including the storekeeper, who was being treated as a prime suspect in the case.

However, nearly over a month since the police took over the matter, no definitive action has been taken and all the suspects including the storekeeper who admitted to stealing the equipment have been allegedly released.

The police investigator, Inspector Mensah had repeatedly said investigations about the audacious theft had been completed and that the docket was before the Attorney General for recommendations.

State Attorney’s Angry Denial

The lead state Attorney in the region has denied receiving the docket and revealed that his efforts to get the police investigator to cooperate in the matter has been unsuccessful.

The chief legal advisor told Starr News in a rare interview Monday, February 19, 2018, that he learned about the theft case following media reports.

He said due to a huge public interest in the matter, he had written to the police on February 1, informing them to speed up process for prosecution but the police have not responded.

Mr Qudus indicated that the seemingly undue delay by the police in this matter was unacceptable and issued a two day deadline by which he revealed the State Attorney would take over the matter to press or amend charges for prosecution in court.