A senior nurse at the Tamale Teaching Hospital and one other person who is not a staff of the facility have been arrested by Management of the Tamale Teaching Hospital for defrauding clients.

The identity of the nurse is yet to be revealed by management but it has been confirmed that another person, Abdulai Abdul Somed was also arrested for posing as a staff of the facility and defrauding unsuspecting clients.

Police retrieved from the suspect hospital cards, stethoscope, syringes and other materials kept in his handbag, being used as a bait to deceive clients of the facility and then demands money from them in order to facilitate their seeing a medical officer.

His arrest follows surveillance by authorities of the facility following complaints by some persons over illegal charges and extortion.

Police in Tamale confirmed his arrest to MyNewsGh.com and indicate that he is being processed for court with a provision charge of defrauding by false pretense and impersonation.

Meanwhile, the Management of the Tamale Teaching hospital says it has been alerted to media and radio commentary on some forms of extortion and illegal charging of clients in various departments of the hospital including but not limited to maternity, surgery, pathology over the years have taken concrete steps to curb this practice.

It however disclosed that management has written several memos, warning staff to desist from engaging in illegally charges and extortion of monies from clients warning that members of staff caught in the act of extorting monies from patients have been sanctioned.

This also comes in the wake of the denial of promotion to a senior radiographer radiology department who was found to be engaged in taking money from a client without giving a receipt.

“In view of this management have begun the issuance of ID cards to all staff to enable clients identify who is a staff and who is not. Management in the course of this year have partnered with non-governmental organizations including CALID and league of youth to sensitize the population on the right payment channels at the facility in a project dubbed Fighting Unapproved Charges In Health Service (FUCHAS)’. The project also created an opportunity for clients to report cases of illegal charges and extortion to duty bearers at the hospital through an SMS reportage platform for redress”

“Management of the hospital has also established client service centers in the hospital, one at the general OPD and one at the OBS/GYN block to create an avenue for clients to launch complaints of suspected cases of unfair treatment and extortion for redress. There are dedicated hotlines for individuals to be able to call and launch complaints as well.

Management of the hospital is also seriously looking to implement intramural practice at the hospital to generate some form of motivation for members of staff in other to discourage them from engaging in illegal charges and extortion”.