50-year-old man dies by suicide inside Jinja Hospital

Authorities at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital and detectives from Jinja Police Station have launched a joint inquest into the suspected death by suicide of a 50-year-old man at the health facility.

Micheal Mukulu, a resident of Rubaga-Mpumudde in Jinja North City Division, was last Friday found hanging in one of the sanitary facilities, the hospital administrator, David Ssemakula, who identified the deceased, said.

Ssemakula described the incident as “very sad”, saying the deceased had “a chronic condition” and was being managed in Ward Four of the hospital.

“He died by suicide by hanging due to reasons unknown to all of us. However, we notified police which came and took the body to the mortuary awaiting an autopsy,” Ssemakula told this reporter at the weekend.

He added that “the hospital has contacted the deceased’s relatives to corroborate reports that he had some mental health-related issues that may have prompted him into the act.”

Sources also told Monitor that the deceased has been seen staying in the hospital with a relative, who is a retired (hospital) employee.

“He has been coming here as a relative to that retired staff,” the source who preferred anonymity said.

But on Sunday, Ssemakula wondered how the deceased beat the hospital’s all “round vigilance”, including that of security guards.

“We have full security in place which patrols the facility all day and night with help of police, but we realised that we have porous outlets into the hospital through which he might have sneaked,” noted Ssemakula.

The entire Jinja Regional Referral Hospital lacks a fence despite being one of the oldest in the country, having been constructed in the 1930s.