LIVES of thousands of cancer patients are at risk following the looting of computers that store vital data for them at the Cancer Diseases Hospital, a heist that has shocked medical personnel.
The specialised hospital is located within the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) premises in Lusaka.
Medical personnel have described the theft as a ‘death sentence’ on the patients and have passionately appealed to the thieves to bring back the equipment, which included data storage computers.
Operations at the hospital, where 350 patients are daily attended to, have screeched to a halt following the theft.
The theft could have occurred between 01:00 hours and 05:00 hours yesterday, according to hospital officials.
They state that the suspected thieves broke into the modern institution and made away with an undisclosed number of computers and printers attached to the Computerised Tomography, commonly known as CT scan.
A CT scan is an X-ray procedure that combines many X-ray images with the aid of a computer to generate cross-sectional views of the internal organs of a body.
Two security guards on duty from Armcor – a security company – have been arrested and are assisting the police with investigations.
The Daily Mail yesterday found some police officers manning the barricaded entry to the hospital while patients and members of the public were restricted from accessing the premises.
Cancer Diseases Hospital executive director Kennedy Lishimpi said the theft is disheartening as the institution is making frantic efforts to cure patients.
Dr Lishimpi, a consultant oncologist, said the institution is currently treating between 300 and 350 patients daily.
“Please, whoever has stolen this equipment should bring them back so that we can continue to save our patients. I know they [culprits] will face the law for the offence but it is important we prevent loss of lives,” Dr. Lishimpi said.
UTH managing director Lackson Kasonka has described the theft as national sabotage and a death sentence to patients at the institution.
Dr Kasonka said the stolen equipment is very expensive.
“They have stolen the monitor and recorder of the CT scan which stores data of diagnoses of patients.
“The components of this equipment are very specific and so I wonder where the thieves will take the stolen items. It’s sabotage and a death sentence to our patients,” Dr Kasonka said.
He hopes police will recover the stolen items and bring to book all the culprits.
In the absence of the information stored on the computers, patients may not be treated.
Ministry of Health permanent secretary Peter Mwaba has described the theft as sad.
“Surely, even if one is desperate to steal, how do you get equipment meant to help our patients? Cancer is devastating,” Dr Mwaba said.
Dr Mwaba, however, said the culprits’ race against the law will be short as the hospital is monitored by CCTV cameras.
“The hospital is secured with CCTV cameras and so the footage will assist to catch the culprits,” Dr Mwaba said.
Lusaka Province Commissioner of Police Solomon Jere has vowed that all the people involved in the theft will be brought to book.
“Whether they (thieves) are in the air, water or on the ground, we will fish them out and recover the stolen items,” Dr. Jere said without giving away his capture plan.
The two Armcor guards police have arrested are detained at Kabwata Police Station and have been identified as Evidence Chilufya, aged 25, of John Laing and Steven Matoka, aged 38, of Kuku.
“We suspect it was an insider job because the break-in was constructive as no window or door was destroyed,” Dr Jere said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
No no no, this is evil. why do such a thing. Police whould make sure they get these killers…So retrogressive.
The trouble in Zambia is that none of publicly owned IT equipment (GRZ IT owneD) is registered when it is being installed. Each piece of equipment has a unique serial number which could be used to trace if stolen. removing such serial numbers is not easy and any buyer would be suspicious of any equipment without a serial number being offered for sale. The Grz needs to set up a proper IT unit to be responsible for all systems’s installations nationwide.
This is indeed sad and disgusting at the same time. How can the entire biggest Hospital in the country be storing critical patient records on a computer? Awe sure, Zambia is in deep trouble.
The Minister, PS and UTH management should take full responsibility for this. If am a patient I would sue these people for neglegence.
Please don’t even waste time blaming the thief because those computers hard disk could have crashed and the consequences would be the same.
If you make a decision to do away with the old, tried and tested PAPER System, then you better invest in a proper Data Storage system with off site backup for business continuity.
This is disgraceful indeed. Do you even have any IT heads in Zambia?
Mulichipuba batata imwe. Have you read the story very well? Stay where you are and never dare come back.
There really is no need for you to insult this person he is on point, patient information is vital and delicate especially when we talking about Cancer and Radiation doses. how in world are they supposed to continue treatments and planning in case of a crash they need to have backup PERIOD. And his point has nothing to do with coming back to Zambia or not, this complex people have developed is really not helping, Appreciate good ideas and learn.:(
Mubemba ni Mabvuto cabe. How do you steal hospital equipment sure sure. Better even to steal from Mmembe or GBM. Of course not Sata because he has no investments anywhere apart from seven guns; so you can’t steal from such a poor man in statehouse. I hope Sata uses his earnings wisely this time around to start a business/factory/ranch/lodge and employ some of these thieves who stole from UTH
the ICT in charge should be fired as that information sitting on the computers was valuable why didnt he do weekly backups then the impact wouldnt have been as BIG.was sata’s records for the prostate he has also there or him ki abroad fela leaving the poor Zambian stranded. these a rat computers are heavy and cumbersome to lift cant go missing without a trace. Jere do some work at last not chasing after UPND rallies day in day out.
My heart just sinks to read this….
This is insane
Some Managements how honestly do you allow such nonsense to happen at UTH which is busy and security 24 hours kwangala noba uku
UTH management should have a heart for other people. Thatscwhy there is back up.
That’s the first thing that came to my mind when I read the title, even me I do back up of my work every week. What stops a big hospital like UTH dealing with people’s lives from backing up? In a way they should also be held responsible for this.
information should be backed up…
Just check the mushrooming tuntemba hospitals. The computers are there. The very doctors and nurses who work there are the suspects. How come no window or door was broken. Just Shamboko all of them and you will have back the computers. These Doctors and nurses are really selfish even after their salaries have been raised 100% still they are stealing. Where are we going sure???
Terrible, we have raised some citizens who can do such harm to people! They steal from the dead in their graves, from houses, from business premises and now from hospitals! What a society we have come to be. This theft is beyond being a rebel or radical. Its utter stupid indeed. Death sentence wod be befitting such misnormal beings.
Oh no, this is just the worst, i hope it gets returned so those poor people do not die before their time because of discontinued treatment. But why are they sleeping on the grass if they are patients, there are no waiting rooms or beds inside??
I am a cancer activist and i know how bad this disease is, people close to me have been affected and its totally disheartening. We need more of those hospitals. God help us.
Pardoning criminals in their thousands ???
Looking at the numbers of patients involved seeking care, it is imperative that computers are used to keep track of each patient’s condition and record. What is crazy is that there were only 2 guards for such a valuable institution. Whoever was the chief security officer should also be made accountable for the poor security set-up. The government must also take the blame for not having the equipment registered so that its serial numbers are circulated.
Iam sure lets ask the Bembas.ahhh
Its like stealing cold room fridges frrom the Morgue (mortuary). Oloooo ni poverty that is satanic !! shame on the thieves. I trust that Dr Solomon Jere will rise to the challenge.
The problem will is so big that even after those control units are recovered, they will be useless. There should be a data bank for the ministery of health and for the GRZ. We take things for granted. Those responsible for this should be sentenced to death, they are already gilty of murder. That’s what happens when you release criminals in the name of being popular.
Once caught, the thieves must be sentenced without trial
Sad development; good thing there is CCTV footage which should help in recovery. The Cancer hospital should consider putting up a Disaster recover centre offsite owing to the sensitive nature of the data.
Very sad.My heart bleeds for all the cancer patients.Whoever did it must surely face the law.
I think I need to go back home to assist mother Zambia get up to speed with the latest technolgies. SHAME SHAME SHAME!!!
IT department to blame for not having back up information. Its a lesson that that they to store information in such a way it should be accessed even when the pcs are stolen. That is what poverty and uncivillisation can do.
Just search the mushrooming private hospitals you will find them…This has got to be an inside job
And if people set fire on PF thieves police complain. Police get out and search for equipment, stop arresting people. Solomon Jere get out of your office, a police officer in a suit, backward people!
And those who bought computers to use to read LT & Watchdog, please just dump them in that shed where patients are waiting…
And if people set fire on PF thieves police complain. Police get out and search for equipment, stop arresting people. Solomon Jere get out of your office, a police officer in a suit, backward people!
Honestly how do steal from the hospital people are so dull.now you see why we burn them alive when we catch them.if they cant have mercy on cancer patients why do you expect us to have mercy on them.truely the devil is on loose.where were the security guards by the way?
THIS IS A NATIONAL DISASTER,SO I URGE THE GOVT.THRU THE VICE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE TO RELEASE EMERGENCY FUNDS AND BUY THE LOST EQUIPMENT TO SAVE LIVES WHILE THE POLICE ARE PURSUING THOSE THUGS.LET THEM NOT WASTE TIME IN POLITICKING.LOOK AT YHE PLIGHT OF THOSE CANCER PATIENTS.MR.MINISTER OF HEALTH ADDRESS THIS MATTER WITH THE URGENCY IT REQUIRES B4 WE HAVE ANOTHER DISASTER.
It is indeed a disaster,how are the donors going to look at us? please Mr.Minister and the Veep release the emergency funds while the police do their job.Im optimistic these thieves are going to be brought to book.
HE should have declared a state of emergency because thousands will die needlessly due to this theft of patient data which now makes specialists unable to perform their duties to save them. If there is any threat to national life, it is theft of public resources such as this one, and the appointment of imbeciles to public jobs when they are not competent to deliver. Zambia must be managed by using modern scientific methods where all knowledge and decisions are based on science and technology and not whims of greed and hunger for glory.
This is very embarrassing for our country and this institution, there is need to invest in a software that can keep and retrieve all the information in such a situation and also invest in insurance rather than crying over split milk. I just do not understand how such an institution can be operating without reliable and secure backup???? I hope this serves as a wake-up call.
Since when did thieves bring back what they stole? How many of them would even know these Gadgets were for Cancer patients? A Hospital of such magintude shoulks engange high class security systems but pa Zed, nothing of the sort happens.
Sad that thieves have stolen from patients.How come the hospital management did not have a backup system to avoid losing data.? Poor management of patients records..
Evidence Chilufya as evidence of your deeds, you do not deserve to be on this earth
You have to be sick in the head to do such no norms what so ever. We Zambians care for each other, help one another, your neighbours are your second family every true Zambian knows that. Where did they get such heartless thinking its really sad and pains everyone that reads this topic
Evidence Chilufya u are disgracing us bembas