Six KNH Employees Charged with Stealing Cancer Drugs

Six KNH Employees Charged with Stealing Cancer Drugs!!!

Someone once joked that as citizens; “we are all corrupt, minus the opportunity”. This was in reference to the culture of looting public coffers by our leaders, and the argument was that “striking deals” has become a culture in the country where selfish gain to make that extra coin sometimes supersedes the moral fabric expected of humanity.

Take for instance that corrupt traffic police officer that takes that KSH 200 or 500 bribe from a driver operating a faulty long-distance bus, only for the vehicle to be involved in a grisly road accident and lives are lost; or that flawed judicial process that ends up seeing innocent people rotting in jail for crimes they didn’t commit or much worse the greedy middle-class Kenyans who end up hogging CDF bursaries meant to benefit students from poor households!

So when I watched the news on local TV of six Kenyatta Hospital employees, who have been charged with stealing Cancer drugs from the hospital, I couldn’t help but wonder if we have completely lost our consciousness as a nation.

The accused; Emily Nyambura, Phillip Owino, Mary Mumo, Yvonne Muthoni, Rose Jepkogei and Maureen Adongo are accused of conspiring to steal the cancer medication from the Kenyatta Prime Care Centre pharmacy valued at more than Ksh.9 million.  They all pleaded not guilty while appearing before Chief Magistrate Wendy Michemi and were released on a cash bail of Ksh.500,000 or a bond of Ksh.1million.

Cancer has over the years become a leading killer disease in the county with statistics from the Ministry of Health showing that cancer is the third leading cause of death In Kenya after infectious and cardiovascular diseases. From 2012 to 2018, the annual incidence of cancer increased from 37,000 to 47,887 new cases.

The cost of cancer treatment continues to be costly and unaffordable to many families who end up exhausting their resources to get their loved ones the much-needed healthcare.

Cancer patients have reported on numerous occasions of not finding drugs at KNH,  but are often directed to pharmacies outside the facility where they find the drugs but at “more affordable” costs.

If at guilty as charged; the offence is almost as bad as murder!