Residents of Nyakabale Village in Geita Region flog Dr Josephat Mfasiri (second right) yesterday after he allegedly abandoned his duties at a dispensary to have a drink. PHOTO| JACKLINE MASINDE
By Jackline Masinde,The Citizen Correspondent
IN SUMMARY
IN SUMMARY
- The patients, both men and women, stormed the bar and dragged the said officer out of the drinking joint
Geita. In an unprecedented move, angry patients who had waited for services of a medical officer in vain were forced to flog him from a nearby bar where they found him drinking alcohol.
The patients, both men and women - others with their sick children strapped on their backs - stormed the bar and dragged the said officer out of the drinking joint.
An angry altercation followed shortly after as the patients demanded to know why the officer, identified as Mr Josephat Msafiri, was drinking during working hours while the sick were stranded. He was found at about 10am with several satchets of hard liquor and apparently drunk.
In the ensuing melee, the patients lost their cool and started caning the medical officer who is the lead personnel at the Nyakabale Dispensary in Geita Region.
Trouble started when Mr Msafiri earlier arrived at the dispensary while drunk and encountered the patients who had lost patience after waiting for over two hours without any services.
The patients said they had queued from 8am but were surprised to see the physician coming late and drunk.
“We have waited for services here since 8am without any success,” said Ms Neema Christopher, a mother who brought her child for treatment at the facility. She added; “Despite coming late, when he arrived, he started insulting us.” “When he came here, he only insulted us and told us that he won’t attend to us because it was a weekend…he closed the dispensary, leaving behind more than 50 seriously sick people,” said Nikate Elia, also a patient.
Angered by the doctor’s act,they said, they first reported the incident to their village leaders who did not act promptly, compelling them to follow the physician to a bar where he was drinking liquor and proceeded to flog him.
When this reporter visited the bar where the incident occurred, he saw the drunken medical officer exchanging nasty words with the patients.
The doctor was quoted as saying; “it is not my duty to treat patients, it is rather a nurse’s work…I don’t do nurses jobs like dresssing and injecting.”
Eye witnesses said taking excessive alcohol during working hours was the doctor’s common behaviour, saying in many circumstances, his duties were carried out by a nurse who was currently on leave.
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