Saint John of God Hospital in Mzuzu has distanced itself from claims that its workers staged a burial of a fake coronavirus victim at Ekwendeni in Mzimba.

Health workers from the hospital on Sunday were captured at one of the graveyards with an empty coffin by concerned community members.

Malawians linked the story to Minister of Health Jappie Mhango accusing him of planning to fake death of Coronavirus patient.

The development forced the hospital to move in and clear the speculations, saying the hospital workers were shooting a movie.

“St John of God which provides mental health and allied services would like to clarify a story circulating in the social media regarding the chasing of its staff (indicated as St Johns) from a grave yard of Ekwendeni.

“The fact of the matter is that the staff were recording a health Education Movie and sought permission from the village Headman responsible and they were not chased,” said Chief Executive officer of St. John of God Hospital in Mzuzu Charles Masulani Mwale in the statement.

Mwale further said that there was no involvement of any politician as speculated that it was a plan by Jappie Mhango.

“While management condemns the behavior of staff on the choice of setting of the video in Ekwendeni, we would like to categorically state that there was no political influence, nor involvement of any politician in this matter,” added Mwale.

Below is the statement;