A 31-year-old medical doctor spent the weekend behind bars after she was arrested for allegedly stealing medicine and medical equipment valued at R50,000 from a government hospital.
A 31-YEAR-old medical doctor spent the weekend behind bars in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, after she was arrested for allegedly stealing medication and medical equipment valued at R50,000.
“The doctor found herself on the wrong side of the law when her vehicle was searched by security personnel while departing from a government hospital on Friday, March 1, at about 4.45pm,” Mpumalanga police spokesperson Captain Magonseni Nkosi said.
Police reports indicate that “numerous” items of medication and medical equipment were found in her vehicle, concealed in the boot.
“The doctor could not explain why the government’s property was in her car,” said Nkosi.
The police were summoned to the scene and the doctor was arrested for allegedly stealing from the hospital.
The woman is expected to appear before the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The provincial commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela, welcomed the “excellent job” done by the hospital’s security.
Last year, it was reported that the Limpopo Department of Health welcomed the arrest of a data capturer attached to the Bela Bela Clinic for allegedly stealing and selling antiretroviral (ARV) medication.
The employee was arrested after police officers found him with boxes of ARVs which he was trying to sell “to an undocumented foreign national of Nigerian descent”, a spokesperson for the Limpopo Department of Health, Thilivhali Muavha, said at the time.
“The department views this arrest as a breakthrough against rogue elements in the department, which cause shortages of medication, which affect community members badly.”
Muavha said there is suspicion that the stolen ARVs would be used to manufacture illicit drugs.
