The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Soroti, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The police in Soroti has arrested a man who has been masquerading as a medic at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital.
Denis Echiku, a resident of Katine sub county was arrested by the police after a tip-off from patients. Echiku has been camping at Ward 1 and extorting money from unsuspecting patients who need x-ray services.
Some of the medics at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity say that Echiku has been forging x-ray reports with the help of some unscrupulous individuals.
“He would pose as a doctor by examining patients and use the opportunity to extort huge sums of money especially from survivors of road accidents. Echiku mastered the timetable of medics and would sneak in when medics are occupied”, the anonymous sources said.
His luck ran out on Thursday when he recommended a patient for an operation at one Million Shillings.
According to the East Kyoga Regional Police Spokesman, Oscar Greg Ageca, the suspect had already received an advance of 300,000 shillings from the patient.
Ageca says that the suspect will be produced to court as soon as the file is sanctioned.
Unlike other regional hospitals manned by the police, Soroti Regional Referral Hospital main gate is manned by locally trained security personnel. Only the COVID-19 unit has police guards that were recently deployed.
According to Stella Agwang, an attendant in the general ward, there have been several cases of theft in the hospital, which management has failed to address.
Echiku is the second imposter to be arrested in the hospital in the last six years. The first imposter was arrested in 2015.
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