“Rot at K’Bu. Rona Chemist denies charges. MOH terminates contract of Rona” is the screaming headline of the Daily Graphic.
The paper reports that Rona Chemist, a supplier of non-drug medical items alleged to be involved in improper supply contract deals at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital estimated at hundreds of millions of cedis, has categorically denied the charges.
It also denied having exploited to its benefit any inappropriate links with the Purchasing Committee of the hospital and called for ” a national inter-ministerial probe” to investigate the entire supply system at the hospital to get to the bottom of the matter and establish the truth.
In a second story, the Ministry of Health in conformity with directives from the Office of the President, has dissolved the Purchasing Committee of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on the strength of serious allegations of malpractice in supply contracts running into hundreds of millions of cedis.
In addition, the Ministry has terminated the contract of Rona Chemist Limited, a prominent supplier of medical items to the hospital who is said to be in the centre of the deals, and also blacklisted it from supplying items to any government hospital.
In other story on the front-page, “I never demand kickbacks from Rona”, the paper reports that the acting Director of Administration of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Sylvia Anie-Akwetey, has dismissed allegations that she demanded kickbacks from Mrs. Rose Hamilton, proprietor of Rona Chemist,
She is reported to have described the allegations as a desperate lie concocted by an exposed wrong doer to find an escape route for herself from the mess she has created.
According to the story, Dr. Akewtey was reacting to allegations by Rona Chemist that she demanded kickbacks from her in order to accord her a privileged reception in her supplying business with the hospital.
“At no point in time during my current position have I ever solicited for and received anything, including financial inducement from the Rona proprietor”, she is reported as saying.
