Footage of rats crawling freely in a ward at one of Zambia's biggest hospitals has landed the facility's administrators in trouble.

The video captured the rats rummaging a plastic bag as a patient lay on a bed next to it at Kitwe Central Hospital in the Copperbelt region.

Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya paid an impromptu visit to the hospital after the video went viral on social media.

The minister ordered disciplinary action against the hospital's managers.

https://twitter.com/diamondtvzambia/status/1297747249871695872?s=21

He said the video was embarrassing to the government and those responsible should be made to answer.