Health officials in Kwajok town are scrambling to clear rumours circulating in the state that a man has delivered a baby at Kwajok main hospital and that people are now asked to pay 30 SSP to go and see him.

The health authorities have appealed to local media and spoken to churchgoers to help dispel the rumour that spread like 'wildfire' in the Warrap territory of South Sudan's northwest. This rumour reached to such a level that the state ministry of health received many calls from people within and outside the state, according to Dr. Michael Nyang Malueth, the director general in the ministry of health in Kwajok.

“This is a lie and it spread like a wildfire and I'm disturbed by receiving calls from Wau, Aweil, Twic, Tonj and Juba and I think today I will receive some calls from abroad asking that a man give birth to a baby in Kwajok hospital,” said Dr. Nyang.

“It is what actually forced me to come here in the church and correct these rumours and I want to tell you this is not true,” he told churchgoers in Kwajok. “A man cannot gives birth at all. And I believe some of you who studied science can know a man has no organs like uterus that allow pregnancy to take place.”

Dr. Nyang said such rumours originate from nowhere, saying people should not believe it because there is no truth in it.

A similar hysteria swept South Sudan's capital Juba when rumours circulated that a woman had turned to a snake. Crowds of people rushed to the Malakia police station hoping to see the 'snake lady', to no avail.

File photo: Kwajok hospital, 2015 (Radio Tamazuj)