Police have arrested a medic suspected to have issued fake HIV laboratory test results to his clients in exchange for money.
Police say Moses Mande, a laboratory technician attached to Citizen Medical Centre in Kiganda, Kasokoso has been conspiring with HIV/AIDS patients to falsify status certificates in breach of both medical ethical code and the Penal Code.
Mande was arrested after a research conducted to establish the cause of the rising prevalence of HIV in the area. It is said that the suspect’s medical facility was part of the facilities sampled in the study.
When the male researcher together with ‘partner’ used Citizen Medical Centre for their HIV test, Mande issued them HIV negative results slips without taking them through a blood test.
Amid shock by the HIV positive researcher who has been on ARV treatment for three years, he sought for police intervention leading to the arrest and detention of the medical personnel.
“Mande has for a long period of time worked as a laboratory technician administering blood tests especially to couples preparing for marriage,” Kampala Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Police say Mande testified that some of the couples that visit the clinic to know their HIV/AIDS status have been paying him Shs 50,000 as a bribe to get results indicating that they are negative yet they are HIV positive in fear of opening up to their partners.
According to Police, the issuance of fake HIV results is becoming a mushrooming practice among most private clinics.
“We therefore warn medical personnel against falsification of results for it’s unethical and puts the lives of other people at risk of being infected with HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases,” the Police statement added.