The Chief Medical Director, CMD, of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, UPTH, Prof Henry Ugboma, has disclosed that the Cashless System Service, CSS, introduced for patients by the management of the hospital was energising misappropriation of fund.
Ugboma said this during his maiden staff briefing at the hospital premises on Wednesday.
He said that the hospital has reverted to the usual physical payment which has helped the hospital to generate more funds and added that the CSS has affected the hospital in no small measures.
The CMD, however, warned all staff members of the hospital to maintain integrity and professionalism in the discharge of their duties, saying that anyone caught involving in any form of sharp practices would be sacked.
He said: “I appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari for this appointment. As the Chief Executive of this teaching hospital, I wish to, on behalf of the management and staff assure members of the public that their concern and complaints are already receiving management’s serious attention.
“I have ordered the immediate suspension of the Cashless Payment System introduced nearly three years ago, to enable an evaluation of critical aspects of the payment mode and so members of the public will for now, pay cash for service, while service charges are also being reviewed downwards ahead of a comprehensive pocket friendly, swift response to patient system to be unveiled in a few months’ time.
“I suspended the cashless system because when I came and did a review of the system we discovered that the hospital is losing millions through it. When we brought direct payment we are generating more fund. We will bring a new technology that will checkmate the system before we can restore it.”
He called on families that have abandoned remains of their relations at the UPTH mortuary for more than two years to urgently come to claim theirs, stressing that the hospital would conduct mass burial for corpses that were not evacuated in two weeks’ time.
“Most corpses have been abandoned in our mortuary for many years. We have been using our resources in taking care of them. He have made announcement that people who have corpses that have stayed for more than three years, should come and evacuate them.
“We are giving the grace of two weeks for their owners to come and pick them else we will carry out mass burial for all the corpses”.
