The Libyan Ministry of Health of the Government of National Accord (GNA) has instructed for an investigation of a negligence incident that led to the damage of an essential medical device used in the treatment of tumor patients at the Tripoli University Hospital.
The medical affairs manager at the Health Ministry Al-Taher Sulaiman said they had been surprised to see water leaking into the hospital and damaging the medical device (Linear accelerator) used for tumor patients six months after being repaired.
He said preliminary investigations showed an explosion in one of the tubes due to negligence of maintenance, adding that despite telling the repairing teams four months ago about the issue, they had just placed a bucket under the leakage spot without any viable action.
"The Ministry has paid a lot of money over the last period to provide medical treatment and medicines for tumor patients inside Libya, in addition to bringing foreign medics despite their rejection to work in Libya amid fighting and violence. Yet, those efforts were met with lack of attention and negligence by the maintenance team." He added.
The Ministry of Health said the patients had been referred to the national institute for treatment of tumors in Sabratha as an emergency procedure.
Social media users believe that the issue is beyond negligence by the maintenance team, accusing officials at the hospital of corruption and intentional sabotage of the equipment, saying the director of the hospital, minister of health and his deputy should be held accountable.
