An 11-year-old boy and his ailing father have been moved to an isolation ward within the University Teaching Hospitals (UTH) after a horde of people visited the health facility on different occasions claiming to know the child and wanting to take custody of him.
This was after Daily Mail last week published a story of the boy who has been solely looking after his sick father, Reuben Musukuma, as other relatives are nowhere to be seen.
And the Social Welfare Department has secured an orphanage in Lusaka to take the boy for safety.
Meanwhile, a philanthropist, Remmy Kangwa, has donated food and clothes, among other necessities, to supplement efforts by the hospital in taking care of the boy and his ailing father, who is still on an oxygen machine.
“We are shocked that after you (Daily Mail) published the story of the abandoned boy and sick father, some people have been trekking to the adult ward where Mr Musukuma was admitted since his arrival, claiming they are the boy’s relatives.
“And what is more shocking is that we were finding some people walk into the ward, call out the boy’s name, and when he goes to them, they would tell him that they have come to pick him, even without approaching any medical personnel here,” a nurse said.
“This worried us a lot and we feared that the boy might just go missing and that is why we have opted to move them from that ward to this safer place.
And we have asked the boy to stop walking alone along any corridor and avoid standing near opened windows. This is all for his safety,” another nurse said.
(Story and picture: Justinah Kapambwe)
Zambia Daily Mail
