Kitwe Teaching Hospital on the Copperbelt Province received 35 dead bodies during the 2022 Christmas Holiday. And the Zambia Police Service has revealed that 23 people died in 197 road accidents recorded countrywide during the 2022 Christmas Period.
Hospital Public Relations Officer Phoebe Chilufya said 33 bodies brought in dead were identified but two bodies remain unknown. She added that the hospital recorded 154 police cases of which 83 were assaults.
“Between Friday, 23rd and Monday 26th December 2022, the Hospital recorded 154 Police cases. Of the said cases, 83 were assaults, among them 13 GBV (Gender Based Violence) cases. Road Traffic Accidents were 22, one alleged rape case and 1 gun shot. Others were 10 cases of dog-bites and two coroner’s deaths. The rest were 35 BID cases of which two are still unknown. The unknown bodies are of male adults. On the two unknown bodies, the hospital is appealing to members of the public that may be missing a friend or relative to come to our mortuary and check if they could be among the two,” Ms. Chilufya said in a written statement.
December 27, 2022 – Police recorded 197 road traffic accidents during this year’s Christmas holiday.
Meanwhile, the Zambia Police Service has revealed that 23 people died in 197 road accidents recorded countrywide during the 2022 Christmas Period.
Mr. Danny Mwale, the Police Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, said out of 197 accidents recorded countrywide, 22 were fatal, 21 were serious road traffic accidents in which 32 persons sustained serious injuries and 41 were recorded as slight road traffic accidents in which 58 persons were slightly injured.
“Out of the 197 accidents recorded countrywide, 22 were fatal in which 23 persons died, 21 were serious road traffic accidents in which 32 persons sustained serious injuries, 41 were recorded as slight road traffic accidents in which 58 persons were slightly injured and 113 were recorded as damages only accidents. Lusaka Province recorded the highest number with 71 road traffic accidents, followed by Copperbelt Province with 33, Central recorded 20, Western Province 18 , Eastern recorded 15 , Southern had 11 as well as Luapula Province while North-Western recorded 7. Northern Province recorded 6 while Muchinga Province had 5 accidents. In comparison with the previous Christmas holiday (2021) where we recorded 152 road traffic accidents, this year’s Christmas holiday shows an increase by 45 accidents. During the same period in 2021, 16 were recorded as fatal road traffic accidents in which 17 persons died as compared to 22 fatal road traffic accidents recorded this year where 23 lost their lives. The records show an increase by six. The Christmas holiday of the year 2021, we recorded 14 serious injury road traffic accidents in which 19 persons sustained serious injuries as compared to 21 serious injury road traffic accidents where 32 persons were seriously injured this year,” Mr. Mwale stated.
“The figures show an increase in both serious injury road traffic accidents and persons seriously injured by 14 and 13 respectively. We recorded 28 road traffic accidents as slight injury road traffic accidents in 2021 where 33 persons were slightly injured as compared to 41 slight injury road traffic accidents in which 58 persons were slightly injured this year. The figures show an increase in both slight road traffic accidents and in persons slightly injured by 13 and 25 respectively. Ninety-four were recorded as damage only road traffic accidents during the Christmas holiday of 2021 as compared to 113 damages only road traffic accidents recorded in the same period in 2022. The figures show an increase in damage only road traffic accidents by 19.Road traffic accidents have increased from 152 during Christmas holiday of 2021 to 197 recorded in the same period this year. This is attributed to the reduction in compliance levels by most of the road users,” Mr. Mwale concluded.
The KTH PRO hasn’t provided important info. What we’d like to know is whether the 35 BID deaths are related to Christmas festivities. We know that Zambia has a high death rate since the advent of HIV/AIDS. What’s the average death rate per day in Kitwe? During SAP, we witnessed a higher rate of BID cases because many people shunned hospitals because of user fees. Have people began to shun hospitals again due to lack of medicines? Give us the probable cause of these deaths so that we propose how to deal with them to reduce their occurrence
I hope these are not from the black mountain
35 dead in one weekend?? London which has 13 times Kitwe’s population had 12. Read Crime Investigation UK.
Tokyo had 0 deaths in the same period.
This is poor information dissemination…very poor indeed..I mean how can you say 35 BIDs at KTH then jump to accidents countrywide. Where all road accidents very serious; how road accidents in Kitwe? All this information in the whole article could have been simplified on a Pie chart or Bar graph.
This culture of reporting like this is not helping. Pls give us the full information that can help in the identification of the 2 unknown. Number of Males/ Females. Where the bodies came from, Cause of dearth and also the age ranges. Kitwe information must be separated from the countrywide info.