Four nurses who were accused of stealing drugs from Kawempe Regional Referral Hospital have accused the hospital administrators for being behind this mastermind.
These say they were very surprised on the D-Day when they were called from home, only to be arrestedbin the presence of media that they are drug thieves.
“It was July 7, 2021, I was at home when my in-chargw called me, on arrival, I was told that I had stollen drugs yet I left only clothes in my Locker,” Maria Nansasi told reporters on Tuesday.
These who include; Nansasi, Resty Mundes Nakiwala Eva, and Nabukrera Florence were on Tuesday set free by Nabweru Chief Magistrates Court after winning the Case.
“Todate am in psychological trauma,” Nansasi added.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Justus Cherop the president of the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union asked the hospital to reinstate the four nurses with immediate effect.
“The truth has come out and the accused have been acquitted of any wrong doing, and the accused are going back today to report to their place of work for redeployment,” he said adding,
“Most of the cases you see in the news about bribery and stealing of government drugs are stage managed usually by colleagues at workplaces who wish to tarnish the names of others. Most cases mangers at various levels don’t do due diligence. They just rush to conclusions and showing how much power they wield they end up punishing innocent poor workers,”
Cherop said that most of these cases are a result of ignorance of the practices of industrial relations, and “such cases should be handled very well with UNMU such that we save our government from embarrassments of such a kind,”.
“We thus demand a full scale investigation into the causes of management failure to do their work managerial role to always follow the right procedures of industrial relations due process of fair hearing before criminalizing an individual in courts of laws, a Full psycho-social support to our members who have been affected by this form of malice,” he said
He sent the nurses with the letter to the hospital which reads in part that,
“our members were interdicted and they have lived a miserable life for over a year, experience we hope you will not desire any person to go through,”
“The Union and its legal team have had a protracted hearings until no credible witness ever came to testify against them and the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew the purported and misguided charges against them,” it adds.
Efforts to get a comment from the hospital about the nurses blackmail allegations were futile as the hospital in-charge’s known phone call were off by press time.
