The Walewale Municipal Hospital has discharged a 30-year-old suspected thief, Sambor Umar, after his family refused to take responsibility for his continued care.
Hospital officials say they spent more than a week attempting to reach Umar’s relatives, but their calls were repeatedly ignored. Umar had been admitted in an unconscious state with severe machete wounds, allegedly inflicted by residents of Wulugu in the North East Region who claimed to have caught him during an attempted theft.
Medical staff were able to stabilise and revive him, but efforts to secure family involvement in his recovery proved unsuccessful. According to hospital sources, the family’s reluctance stems from an earlier case in which Umar’s elder brother stood as surety for him in a previous theft incident—a commitment that reportedly left the family financially and emotionally overwhelmed.
With no relatives coming forward and no legal basis to continue holding him, the hospital took the decision to discharge Umar. The incident has further highlighted a growing challenge of abandoned patients and the strain they place on health facilities across the region.
