Dad causes commotion at Matero Hospital …as cops rough him up after baby dies

THERE was a near protest at Lusaka’s Matero Level One Hospital on Monday evening after police manhandled and arrested a client who noisily accused hospital staff of negligence when his about oneyear-old son died instantly after an injection. The hospital came to a standstill when the angry father fumed and started screaming at hospital staff whom he accused of killing his son. It took a handful of strong men to carry him out of the treatment room and took him near the maternity wing where he was calmed down. In no time, an anti-robbery squad vehicle speedily arrived with heavily armed police officers who roughed- up the man, to the surprise of on lookers including Daily Nation staff who were at the hospital, before bundling him into their vehicle. As the police vehicle was leaving the hospital premises, scores of people who had witnessed the ordeal chased after the vehicle in protest, questioning why a man who had just lost his son should be treated like a common criminal. “Musiyeni muntu adandaula vooneka, why kumutenga monga ni kawalala elo ninshi na mwana wake achoka che kufa (Leave that man alone, his complaints are genuine. Why should you pick him like a common criminal and his son has just died,” they shouted. The furious crowd also questioned why a baby should die immediately after an injection, with some suspecting that it might have been an overdose. Some women were heard complaining that patients at the hospital were being attended to by student nurses and young doctors with less experience. Efforts to get a comment from police proved futile by press time.