Covid-19 patients have been accused of cooking goat for themselves at a field hospital in Savannakhet Province following the release of a video online.
The video, released on Facebook, shows a group of men cooking a goat for food in a field hospital where they are receiving treatment for Covid-19, while playing music and disturbing other patients.
Mr. Johnny, one of the Covid-19 patients at the field hospital, posted on his Facebook account that he received the goat meat from a friend, which he cooked and shared with others.
A police officer from Savannakhet who was in hospital after having close contact with Case 59 was accused of bringing the goat into the hospital.
However, Mr. Johnny claimed that the goat did not belong to the police officer.
“I had no idea that this was against the rules of the hospital,” said Mr. Johnny, despite being warned by hospital staff.
Deputy Head of the Savannakhet Provincial Office of Health, Dr. Tiengkham Pongvongsa, told Lao Phattana News in an interview that the video posted on Facebook is accurate, and that the goat meat was brought in from outside the hospital grounds.
The goat was killed off-site and the meat brought in, rather than slaughtered on hospital grounds as some social media posts reported.
“Medical personnel had warned those involved but it seems they ignored the warning,” said Dr. Tiengkham.
“The patients claimed that their sense of taste had returned and they wanted to eat food that they enjoyed,” Dr. Tiengkham added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Head of Savannakhet Public Security Office, Lieutenant Colonel Bounlerth Khathoumphon, says the man who cooked the goat in the video was Captain Phouxay Sisavanh, a police officer and Covid patient who had had close contact with a case 59, according to an interview with Vientiane Live.
“We have issued a warning to those involved and authorities will take legal action after they have been discharged from the hospital,” said Lieutenant Colonel Bounlerth Khathoumphon.
