ABOUT 18 employees from Southern Africa Ferro Alloys Limited, a manganese mine in Serenje district, are being treated at University Teaching Hospitals (UTHs) for blood contamination due to exposure to chemicals which have affected their motor skills and caused erectile dysfunction.
The patients, who are currently lodging at Eastern Moon Hotel facilitated by their employers, are waiting to undergo laboratory tests and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at UTH.
The victims, who are from Kanona village in Serenje, claim that despite their employers allegedly trying to hide results from them, some doctors disclosed to them that their condition is as a result of harmful manganese chemicals in their bodies. This is contained in a report published by Zambia Daily Mail.