News / National
Nurses recruitment scam exposed
18 Dec 2018 at 16:27hrs | Views
HARARE Central Hospital Principal Tutor Irene Sambo is alleged to have pocketed more than $300 000 in a nurse trainee recruitment scandal that has left one of Zimbabwe's biggest health referral centres with two distinct sets of selected students for the May and September 2019 intakes.
The scandal, which has since triggered an internal investigation, arguably ranks as one of the biggest in the nursing history in the country and more than 100 prospective student nurses are set to lose out after the hospital CEO said the hospital was not going to recognise their acceptance letters.
It is alleged that Sambo, working in cahoots with some student nurses who are already in training and a well-knit web of her contacts, solicited for and collected amounts ranging from $2 000 from the prospective candidates.
Further allegations are to the effect that they then went on to dish out acceptance letters even before the 2019 intake advertisement was flighted in local media.
It is believed that in trying to keep the scandal under wraps, Sambo in a letter dated October 29, 2018, wrote to the Clinical Director of the hospital advising him that the recruiting 'committee' had agreed to consider the remaining candidates from February 2016 interviews.
Part of the letter - a copy of which is in our possession 0 addressed to The Clinical Director reads: "Following the previous minutes of the 16th November 2017 where the committee had agreed to consider the remaining candidates from February 2016 interviews, all the remaining candidates were taken in May 2018.
"...please find attached the list and minutes of the candidates who were interviewed in February 2018 after the advertisement. However, after the interviews the candidates were given their acceptance letters according to their merit in the highlighted intakes as has been the norm in all the previous intakes," reads the letter which was also copied to the Human Resources Officer.
The scandal, which has since triggered an internal investigation, arguably ranks as one of the biggest in the nursing history in the country and more than 100 prospective student nurses are set to lose out after the hospital CEO said the hospital was not going to recognise their acceptance letters.
It is alleged that Sambo, working in cahoots with some student nurses who are already in training and a well-knit web of her contacts, solicited for and collected amounts ranging from $2 000 from the prospective candidates.
It is believed that in trying to keep the scandal under wraps, Sambo in a letter dated October 29, 2018, wrote to the Clinical Director of the hospital advising him that the recruiting 'committee' had agreed to consider the remaining candidates from February 2016 interviews.
Part of the letter - a copy of which is in our possession 0 addressed to The Clinical Director reads: "Following the previous minutes of the 16th November 2017 where the committee had agreed to consider the remaining candidates from February 2016 interviews, all the remaining candidates were taken in May 2018.
"...please find attached the list and minutes of the candidates who were interviewed in February 2018 after the advertisement. However, after the interviews the candidates were given their acceptance letters according to their merit in the highlighted intakes as has been the norm in all the previous intakes," reads the letter which was also copied to the Human Resources Officer.
Source - hmetro
