UTH Records 796 Defilement Cases Between January, August

THE University Teaching Hospital (UTH) recorded 796 defilement cases between January and August this year, public relations manager Mwenya Mulenga has said.
Mr Mulenga said in an interview yesterday that all the victims were discharged after treatment.
Mr Mulenga said UTH management is concerned that the number of defilement cases keeps increasing despite the existing stiff laws to deal with perpetrators.
“We are concerned because the courts give stiff punishment to defilers but the cases don’t seem to be reducing,” Mr Mulenga said.
He appealed to Government to consider revising the law to further stiffen punishment against defilers.
Mr Mulenga also said the referral hospital has opened up a one-stop centre in the children’s department to counsel victims of rape.
“We have counsellors, doctors stationed in the department dedicated to ensure that all the victims are attended to and given the attention that they deserve,” Mr Mulenga said.
He is hopeful that the number of cases will reduce in future.