Police in Siavonga have apprehended two patients diagnosed with cholera who escaped from quarantine confinement at Siavonga District Hospital.

Siavonga District Commissioner Lovemore Kanyama confirmed in a statement, Monday, that the married couple escaped in full view of hospital staff who did not attempt to stop them for fear of contracting the disease.

“Cholera patients last night 7th January 2018, escaped from the hospital, and were later apprehended by Siavonga police last night at around 23:00 hours.
This happened in view of Siavonga district hospital staffs who were scared of apprehending them for fear of contracting the disease,” Kanyama stated.

“It’s disappointing that the cholera patients can think so low as to escape from the hospital, when the medical personnel were doing their best to enable them gain more strength. I expected the patients who are also a couple of Kanyelele compound of Siavonga district to appreciate and commend the hospital personnel for taking care of them. The husband is a Siavonga town council employee; a garbage collector.”

He urged patients not to escape from the hospital, but to wait until declared fit.

And in a follow up interview, Kanyama revealed that the two were the only cholera patients in Siavonga at the moment.

“It happened so fast, no one was expecting it. They just came out of the hospital and said ‘we are going home’. People from the hospital were scared of apprehending them so we had to use the police to apprehend them. Right now it seems they are doing fine and we will contain this. We only have two cases right now, the same couple,” said Kanyama.