A father says his baby on oxygen died in his arms at a hospital in Juba after the management allegedly switched off the generator over the weekend, an allegation denied by Jubek state authorities.

Baby Manasseh Chien was admitted to Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital on the first of May for dyspnea – difficulty in breathing.

His father Peter Madol says he had since then been on oxygen support.

The aggrieved father claimed that because of the hospital policy of switching off the generator, his son died on the 15^th of May.

“When the generator was switched off, the oxygen machine had to stop. The child breathed for some time but the breathing stopped and he died. ”

“I think it was a policy of the hospital that, the generator has to go off at 12:00 whether someone is on that support or not they just switch it off.”

The father of the deceased said that it was not the first time he was witnessing such in the hospital.

“It has happened not only to my child. I have witnessed some two other children during my 2 weeks stay in the hospital. It is painful not because I lost a kid, it is painful because I am foreseeing other South Sudanese dying the same way.”

He appealed to the authorities in the state to intervene and address the problem.

“If there was a kind of intervention, it could be better. It is painful because others are going to die the same way, the government should intervene.”

Among numerous allegations of child death in Al Sabbah hospital, this is the second time this year a child is being officially reported dead under the same circumstance.

In early April, a civil society leader told Eye Radio that he was shocked at how nurses at Al Sabbah Children’s Hospital were handling the sick children at the facility.

Rajab Muhandis said, he noticed reluctance among health workers on duty, congestion in the wards, poor hygiene, and sanitation in the wards and the surrounding and long hours of waiting before a child receives treatment.

“I was surprised by the experience I got in those health centers. First, the child was born at that clinic, the midwife who was in charge of this process; who was on duty was harsh and aggressive towards my own people who wanted to help and attend to the birth of the child and witness and maybe support in the process.”

When contacted by Eye Radio, the minister of health in Jubek state has dismissed all the reports, adding that they are investigating the matter further.

“Al Sabbah hospital has a backup Oxygen cylinder in case of emergencies. So the report that the generator was switched off and the oxygen was disconnected is not true.”