Like all young ladies who are giving birth for their first time, in the month of June, 2012, Nancy Kabanyoro shifted from her place of work in Masindi district to the comfort of her mother in Kabarole District to give birth. She wasn’t aware that the journey was the beginning of her end.
She finally managed to
give birth after an operation at Virika Hospital, Fort Portal. However, the
operation was the actual beginning of her end because it was done badly due to
negligence of some health workers at the hospital. Virika is a private hospital
owned by the Catholic Church but partially supported by the Uganda Government.
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| Nancy Kabanyoro |
After a long struggle
for over 2 months as a result of bad operation, she had her last breathe on the
night of 15th, August, 2012. On Friday, 17th June, 2012,
we laid her to rest at her ancestral home in Kibiito Sub County, Kabarole
District.
Actually, rumor which
has not yet been confirmed has it that she was actually operated on by an
intern student without proper supervision and the family is gathering more
information to sue the hospital for such negligence. Five more other operations
were conducted at Nsambya Hospital but it was too late to save a life of a 29
year old lady who was just starting a family. Fortunately, the baby is well and
healthy.
This case is just a tip
of an iceberg and portrays a true picture of the state of Uganda health sector;
there are thousands of such cases in many Ugandan Hospitals and health centers
causing thousands of deaths every month. Stories of a nurse leaving a patient on
a drip, patients bleeding to death as a result of medical workers negligence
among others are very common in the Ugandan media today? Mind you, it is not
only negligence of medical, many are much more committed even with the little
pay but lack basic facilities to enable them do their work.
For the record, I was
born at Virika Hospital during Obote II and the stories I hear from people who
are much older than me say that the hospital services especially the care were
quite better compared to now. Health workers were much more committed to their
work than today, their attitude towards patients and work was also much better.
Even during the first ten years of President Museveni government, you could
really see the commitment; you could feel much more care in such public health
facilities like Virika Hospital.
Today, you can really
see negligence by health workers in almost all public health facilities, I was
not surprised when Bidandi Ssali appealed for medical help from government to
allow him go abroad for treatment because he has been in government and is much
aware of the state of the health sector, he can’t trust his life with Ugandan
Doctors and Nurses because he knows they are not happy with the meager pay and
funding to the health sector.
Ugandan leaders have no
care because they are sure of better services abroad, everyone has been
complaining of brain drain of Ugandan medical workers even to countries like
Rwanda. Those who have remained in Uganda actually spend 80 percent of their
time in private health facilities trying to make ends meet which leaves them
exhausted with no time to concentrate and make proper prescriptions, treatment
and even basic surgeries.
In addition to meager
pay for medical workers by the government, Ugandan health facilities lack even
the basic facilities to enable mothers deliver comfortably like surgical kits.
The American diplomats were not stupid to question the impact of the $ 400
million the US government donates to the Ugandan health sector since the
country’s health sector remains in a deplorable state.
Young mothers like Nancy
are the future of this country, they have a lot to contribute to the
development of this country but they are not well connected and have no
resources to access better medical treatment and care from abroad.
The Uganda government
therefore needs to wake up and increase on the national resource allocation to
the health sector, improve on the salaries and other welfare of medical workers
to avoid young mothers like Nancy who are bread winners to their families die
at such productive years and as a result of negligence by medical workers due
to lack of motivation as a result of a meager salary and limited resource
allocation to the health sector to enable it properly function.
