The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, has asked the police to collaborate with Interpol, to declare Samuel Dogbe, the labourer at the Central Medical Stores in Tema, believed to have set fire to the medical facility destroying items worth ¢200 million, to be declared wanted by the police.
Mr. Dogbe is suspected to have been contracted by 12 officials in charge of the stores to burn the place in an attempt to cover up their illegal activities there.
The Attorney General, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, who made this known at a press conference in Accra, also said the procurement unit of the Ministry of Health is under investigation for shielding the crime.
According to the AG, the Ghana Health Service and medical doctors in state-run hospitals and clinics shielded wrongdoing by declining to use prescription forms supplied by the CMS.
“It was further gathered that though Volta Intex supplied 100,000 copies of the prescription form which was kept at the CMS, the Ghana Health Service and medical doctors in state run hospitals and clinics declined to use it describing the form as deficient.”
“All the 100,000 copies of the forms were destroyed in the fire. It was later detected that the procurement unit of the Ministry of Health shielded the wrongdoing. Government has directed the same audit taskforce to undertake this exercise. Government has also directed the Police CID to declare Samuel Dogbe, the suspected arsonist, a wanted person and to take all necessary steps including seeking the assistance of Interpol to effect his arrest,” the AG said.
The Central Medical Store is where the country’s medical equipment and drugs are stored for onward distribution across the regions.
Over two hundred million cedis worth of drugs and equipment were destroyed in the fire which nearly crippled healthcare delivery last year.
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