Hospital refutes lightning strike ‘cover-up’
Building safe, engineers claim
An engineering firm reportedly ruled out the possibility of a direct lightning strike, adding that a burst of electromagnetic power likely came down copper cables.
Ongwediva Medipark Hospital has denied claims that an employee was struck by lightning while on duty, causing her to temporarily lose the ability to speak.
The private hospital said it roped in an engineering firm after the incident, which ruled out the possibility of a lightning strike and declared the hospital building safe.
However, sources claim the hospital is trying to ‘cover up’ what actually happened because it does not want to take accountability for the incident.
Lightning ruled out
Namibian Sun has seen two internal memos sent to hospital staff by management.
The first, dated 20 March, said an employee was allegedly struck by lightning on 15 March. In that communique, the hospital’s management acknowledged that heavy rains were experienced late that afternoon and that the rain was accompanied by lightning strikes.
“During the afternoon [15 March], an employee working in radiology was allegedly struck by lightning,” it read.
Six days later, another memo was sent out to share the engineering firm’s findings.
“The engineers did a preliminary inspection of the hospital buildings to establish if they had the basic lightning protection installation and found that these are installed. They have ruled out the possibility that a direct lightning strike hit the building or the employee. At this stage, the engineers suspect that a burst of electromagnetic power came down on the copper wire cables from the epicentre of the strike, which could have been a few kilometres away from Medipark,” the memo read.
“According to the engineer, the building is safe for employees as lightning strikes of this magnitude are very rare, but they do sometimes occur.”
No medical report
Despite numerous requests for comment, the affected employee has refused to go on record for fear of victimisation.
She was, however, surprised to hear that the hospital has ruled out the possibility of a lightning strike. “If it was not a lightning strike, then what was it?” she briefly remarked before hanging up.
Namibian Sun has been reliably informed that the affected employee had to undergo speech therapy, and has since returned to work.
The hospital’s human resource manager David Tshivute said right after the incident, the employee walked 50 metres to the accident and emergency ward, where she was assessed by a doctor.
“There is no medical report corroborating the possibility that the employee was struck by lightning,” he said.
Tshivute added that this is the first claim of this kind since the hospital opened its doors in 2006.
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The private hospital said it roped in an engineering firm after the incident, which ruled out the possibility of a lightning strike and declared the hospital building safe.
However, sources claim the hospital is trying to ‘cover up’ what actually happened because it does not want to take accountability for the incident.
Lightning ruled out
Namibian Sun has seen two internal memos sent to hospital staff by management.
The first, dated 20 March, said an employee was allegedly struck by lightning on 15 March. In that communique, the hospital’s management acknowledged that heavy rains were experienced late that afternoon and that the rain was accompanied by lightning strikes.
“During the afternoon [15 March], an employee working in radiology was allegedly struck by lightning,” it read.
Six days later, another memo was sent out to share the engineering firm’s findings.
“The engineers did a preliminary inspection of the hospital buildings to establish if they had the basic lightning protection installation and found that these are installed. They have ruled out the possibility that a direct lightning strike hit the building or the employee. At this stage, the engineers suspect that a burst of electromagnetic power came down on the copper wire cables from the epicentre of the strike, which could have been a few kilometres away from Medipark,” the memo read.
“According to the engineer, the building is safe for employees as lightning strikes of this magnitude are very rare, but they do sometimes occur.”
No medical report
Despite numerous requests for comment, the affected employee has refused to go on record for fear of victimisation.
She was, however, surprised to hear that the hospital has ruled out the possibility of a lightning strike. “If it was not a lightning strike, then what was it?” she briefly remarked before hanging up.
Namibian Sun has been reliably informed that the affected employee had to undergo speech therapy, and has since returned to work.
The hospital’s human resource manager David Tshivute said right after the incident, the employee walked 50 metres to the accident and emergency ward, where she was assessed by a doctor.
“There is no medical report corroborating the possibility that the employee was struck by lightning,” he said.
Tshivute added that this is the first claim of this kind since the hospital opened its doors in 2006.
[email protected]
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