Medic loses sh6.7m Polio fund after betting on World Cup games

Dec 01, 2022

 The health worker said he lost the money for betting on the ongoing World Cup and committed to paying back the money by borrowing from a financial institution.

The health worker said he lost the money for betting on the ongoing World Cup and committed to paying back the money by borrowing from a financial institution.

By Robert Adiga and Charles Anguma
Journalists @New Vision

HEALTH | BETTING | POLIO

ZOMBO - A health worker in Zombo district has landed himself into trouble after allegedly gambling away sh6.7m meant for allowances of stakeholders who participated in the recent countrywide polio immunisation campaign in the country.

Zombo authorities have now asked the accused health worker, from Zeu Health Centre III to expedite the process of recovering the funds meant for village health teams, LC1 chairpersons and other health workers who participated in the door-to-door immunisation exercise.

World Cup mess

Zombo deputy Resident District Commissioner Grace Atim said the money was deposited to the health worker’s account to pay 240 officials in Aka sub-county.

She added that after being interrogated, the health worker said he lost the money for betting on the ongoing World Cup and committed to paying back the money by borrowing from a financial institution.

Source of trouble

Meanwhile, Zombo district health officer Dr Mark Bramali said they received a case of mismanagement of the money for those who participated in the exercise.

He added that they had a lot of challenges disbursing the money through different platforms used for paying the money. They, therefore, resorted to paying the money through individuals.

“Our mode of payment changed due to the challenges we encountered with the online system and we handed the money to the health worker for those attached to Aka Health Centre III during the exercise. However, when we went to the beneficiaries to ascertain the delay of the payment, we found he was almost being lynched due to the failure to effect their facilitation,” Bramali said.

The vaccination exercise was conducted and implemented by the health ministry targeting children aged zero to five years as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative supported by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF.

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