By Everson Luhanga
Malawi police have arrested a coffin seller who was disconnecting drips from cholera patients in Limbe, a small town in the country’s commercial city of Blantyre.
The suspect has been identified as the owner of a coffin shop next to the cholera camp.
Residents caught the unnamed man on Monday after monitoring him over the weekend.
The cholera outbreak in the country has overburdened health facilities and care workers. The government has been forced to set up temporary shelters to house and treat the ever-growing numbers of patients.
This is where the man took advantage – by allegedly sneaking into the camp and disconnecting drips from the patients who needed them, so that more people would buy his coffins.
One of the nurses at the Limbe Health Centre told Scrolla.Africa that there was confusion among nurses after they found drips disconnected from their patients.
“We started accusing each other of such an inhumane act,” she said.
“But we realised that we were all professionals and we couldn’t do such things. We then set up a trap that included leaders of the community.”
She said for two days the man was seen going into the camp and telling patients that he was a health worker checking the functioning of the drips.
When entering the camp, he would wear medical gloves. “We don’t know how he acquired those gloves. The police and the health officials will investigate that.”
The nurse added that some patients whose drips had been removed died due to dehydration, while some were saved just in time.
So far, 21,522 have tested positive for cholera and have been taken into different camps across the country and 716 people have died from the outbreak.
Chrissy Banda, spokesperson for the Blantyre District Health Office, said the suspect’s intention is not yet known.
Police in the city could not exactly confirm that the man was disconnecting drips from patients to boost his coffin business. A police spokesperson said they are still investigating the suspect’s motive.
Pictured above: The unnamed coffin seller accused of disconnecting cholera patients’ drips
Image source: @zodiakonline
