Footage of rain pouring through leaking hospital roof was filmed in Ghana, not Kenya
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on May 7, 2021 at 10:25
- 3 min read
- By Monique NGO MAYAG
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“Shocking! This is a hospital in Kenya’s Kiambu County, despite the country receiving billions of dollars in World Bank & @Internationalmonetaryfunds loans. #StopLoaningKenya #UnlockOurCountry But Our Media will tell us how charitable The President Is (sic),” reads the caption of a Facebook post viewed nearly 9,000 times.
A similar claim was shared here.
In the clip, water is seen pouring through a leaking roof into a medical ward. An overflowing blue plastic bucket sits on the floor next to a hospital bed occupied by a patient.
Some social media users in Kenya shared the footage to highlight government negligence. Others posted links to an online campaign calling on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stop loaning money to Kenya “until proper accountability mechanisms to ensure the money is put to good use are in place”.
In March, the same video circulated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – including here, here and here – alongside claims in French that it shows the Kinshasa General Hospital.
Bedsheet logo offers a clue
However, a reverse image search with video analysis tool InVID-WeVerify led to Facebook posts (here, here, here and here) locating the hospital in Ghana. These videos appeared several days before the clip circulated in DRC and weeks before it appeared in Kenya.
A logo with the words “The church of (...)” is visible on the bedsheet in the video. The last word is illegible.
A Facebook search using the keywords “church hospital Ghana flood” revealed this video showing the full logo as “The Church of Pentecost” – a church in Ghana’s capital, Accra.
Searching the church’s social media accounts, AFP Fact Check came across this statement published on March 12, 2021, dismissing claims that it owned the hospital in the video.
The statement, signed by the church’s Secretary-General Apostle Alexander Nana Yaw Kumi-Larbi, clarified that the bedsheets in the clip were a donation the church had made to a different hospital, without specifying the name.
DISCLAIMER ‼️‼️‼️
— The Church of Pentecost (@thecophq) March 12, 2021
We have sighted a disturbing video of a health facility that seems to have a roof leakage challenge. We want to clarify that the health facility in question does not belong to @thecophq as purported.
Apostle ANY Kumi-Larbi
General Secretary, @thecophq pic.twitter.com/DCTIDovctk
When contacted by AFP Fact Check, Kumi-Larbi said that the video had been filmed at the Onwe Public Hospital, located in the town of Ejisu, 240 kilometres north of Accra.
“The video caught our attention because of the bedsheet from The Church of Pentecost, but it is not one of our health facilities,” Kumi-Larbi said, adding that the church had donated 50 bedsheets to the hospital in 2019.
“Unfortunately, the hospital was struck by a rainstorm which destroyed its roof. We are deeply concerned about this situation and we hope that the authorities can remedy it as soon as possible,” he said.
Josephine Ahorsu, the municipal director of health services in Ejisu, also confirmed to AFP Fact Check that the facility was Onwe Public Hospital.
According to Ahorsu, the ward in the video is located in a building attached to the main hospital.
“We had a problem with the roof and it caused the leak. The video was taken by two nurses on duty who did not want to move the patient because of his condition and the oxygen,” she said.
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