A video showing rain pouring into a hospital ward, where a patient hooked on oxygen is seen lying right next to the leakage has been circulating online.
Posts shared on Twitter and Facebook claim that this apparently took place in Kenya.
Background
Various parts of Kenya are currently experiencing heavy rainfall. A forecast report issued by the Kenya Meteorological Department states that several parts of the country are likely to experience “near to above average” rainfall especially during the first three weeks of April, as the month marks the peak of the long rains season. Evidently so, the Kenya Red Cross on April 7 deployed flood-rescue teams to Tana River County where heavy rains had affected families and also disrupted activities along the Garissa-Hola highway.
Verification
After a frame-by-frame fragmentation of the video using the Invid tool and reverse searching an image from one of the frames extracted from the video, Piga Firimbi found that the footage began circulating on March 12, 2021.
A Ghanaian-based Facebook news channel called Avenor TV was among the first platforms to share the video on March 12, with the title: ‘Worrying sight of Leaky roof in a Ghanaian hospital”. Subsequent publications of the footage on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook bore different claims, with some saying that it is from Congo, in addition to the Kenyan-based claims that also varied in location- some citing Kiambu County, others the Western region.
The hospital’s bedsheets seen in the video contain a rather conspicuous logo of The Church of Pentecost religious organization, based in Ghana. The organization responded to this concern through a Facebook post saying that they previously donated the bedsheets to an unnamed hospital, adding that the hospital and ward in the video do not belong to them.
In a fact-check by France 24, a Ghanaian Health official acknowledged that the video in question was indeed taken in Ghana. The footage was taken at the Onwe Public Hospital, the official said. He added that the video was taken by nurses who could not move the patient because of his medical state and because he was hooked up to an oxygen cylinder.
Verdict
Claims that a video showing rain leaking through a hospital roof is from Kenya are FALSE.
Add comment