The Ministry of Health and Social Services said it is investigating the case in which four men were arrested at Rundu for allegedly attempting to sell ARV medication to undercover police officers.
The Regional Director of Health in the Kavango East Region, Woita Kapumburu said this in an interview with Nampa on Tuesday.
The police in Rundu arrested three men last week Thursday at Kehemu residential area who allegedly were in possession of stolen Macleods Antiretroviral (ARV) medication.
A fourth suspect was arrested later as he fled the scene.
The four were found with six boxes of ARV drugs. It carried 160 containers of which each container had 30 ARV tablets.
The suspected stolen medication is valued at N.dollars 87 000.
“The ministry is investigating this case to determine where the loopholes are,” Kapumburu said.
Kapumburu who recently took over as the regional health director said the ministry is not going to let go of the matter just because it has been reported with the police.
“There are internal processes in the ministry that we will look into as to how this medication got out there,” he stated.
The medication, he said, was bought by the government for the people to get them free of charge, adding that the general public is being deprived of this benefit.
“Government is trying to provide goods and services by all means despite the economic challenges. Thus this is a matter we are not just going to let go,” said Kapumburu.
He said of the four men implicated in the matter two are employed by the ministry.
The four men appeared in the Rundu Magistrate’s Court on Monday before Magistrate Sonia Sampofu who denied them bail due to the seriousness of the case, and on reason that they may interfere with the investigation.
The suspects who are facing charges of theft and possession of stolen goods are Kalistus Muhemba, 32, Makale Tjipa, 36, Rumeta Johannes, 33, and 40-year-old Ekandjo Jafet.
Their case was postponed to 01 November 2022 for formal bail application.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
