Authorities probe after two babies suffocate to death at Tororo Hospital

The Tororo Deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC) has ordered an investigation after two babies painfully died under unclear circumstances in the Neonatal Unit at Tororo General Referral Hospital

Albert Amula, who Wednesday morning led a team of district leaders to the government hospital, was shocked to learn that the day-time death occurred as medical workers neglected duty.

"We are saddened by the incident because this is the only government hospital where people expect to get the best service. This embarrassment may make patients shun coming to the facility to have safe deliveries," Amula observed.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the babies suffocated to death in the eyes of their parents with no health worker on duty.

Hospital insiders claim absence of an officer from duty forced the babies to stay on oxygen for the whole day after the nurse who worked night shift left thinking that her colleague would immediately take over.

One of the parents who preferred anonymity told the press that she helplessly witnessed her baby boy die as she lacked knowledge on removing him from the incubator.

"I’m optimistic that my baby would have survived if I went elsewhere to have deliver. It’s our prayer that government takes over the case to make this place safe for deliveries," speaking tearfully, she told Monitor.

A whistleblower accused hospital staff of abandoning the health facility during the festive season.

“During day time, most of the medical workers mysteriously disappear, leaving the patients in the hands of interns and volunteer nurses,” he said.

Tororo District education and health- secretary Noah Ukumu questioned the integrity of the officer who was scheduled to be on duty as he decried the loss of lives at the hospital.

On Wednesday, Tororo Hospital medical superintendent Dr Thomas Ochar apologized for the double demise as he pledged an audit into the fatalities.

However Dr Ochar called upon government to urgently address staff shortage at the hospital.

“The maternity wing where the Neonatal Unit falls only has 7 nurses and on the day when the incident happened, 2 of them had lost their relatives. Two were for their annual leave, one sick, while the one who was supposed to be on duty failed to turn up,” he told journalists.

"It's a constitutional right for patients to access health services but their issues are above us. We have limited staff yet the Neonatal Unit requires full time attention. Do something to relieve us," he appealed.