Mr Jonathan Akweteireho, the Kiryandongo deputy resident district commissioner, addresses staff of Kiryandongo General Hospital on September 4, 2024. PHOTO/TOBBIAS JOLLY OWINY
Ms Justine Nakalanzi, in her mid-thirties, arrived at Kiryandongo General Hospital in Kiryandongo Town a few minutes before 11pm on April 18.
Together with her attendant, they were welcomed by three wealth workers she learnt were medical interns.
However, Ms Nakalanzi, who had developed labour pains, declined to be served by the students and demanded to see the doctor on duty.
“I learnt that there was no doctor that night and I accepted them to work on me,” Ms Nakalanzi said in an interview.
At around 2am, she delivered the baby amid pain. She said the medical interns placed him on her tummy.
“The baby only cried once but I started bleeding until they called one of their supervisors who came with another doctor and they removed the baby from me to be able to handle me,” she said.
In the morning, Ms Nakalanzi discovered that the interns had not tied the umbilical cord of the newborn.
“The baby’s stomach started swelling and he ended up dying on the weighing scale when they took him for measurement,” she said.
Ms Nakalanzi said her baby was abandoned on the weighing scale from where her relatives found its body.
In the afternoon of the third day, Ms Nakalanzi, a person living with disability, said her stomach also started to swell while her legs developed numbness.
“Inside the theatre, they examined me thoroughly and found out that a piece of cotton wool had been left inside my uterus. The cotton wool was already stained with pus,” she said.
On day five, health workers, upon finding she was out of danger, discharged her to go home.
When Ms Nakalanzi returned five days later for a review, she alleged that she checked the hospital’s check-in roster and saw signatures of five doctors.
However, she said medical student interns told her that no doctor was available that day.
Stubbornly, she declined their efforts to handle her case and was advised to seek service at a private health facility in town.
While leaving the facility, Ms Nakalanzi said a doctor stopped her and asked if she needed help since she appeared confused and disoriented.
“He told me that the government had not paid them for about six months and that he would not treat me unless I paid the money, because that is the only way they can earn from their services,” she said
Ms Nakalanzi added: “He explained to me that he would take me to a doctor who would help me and asked for Shs150,000; when I accepted, he told me that he would send a boda boda to pick me up since he did not want to be seen walking out with me.”
The boda boda rider took Ms Nakalanzi to a private facility but she refused to pay the money and quickly called the office of the Resident District Commissioner (RDC).
Plight of other patients
Ms Veronica Apio, a resident of Kyankende Parish whose daughter delivered at the facility on September 4, also accused health workers of extortion.
Ms Apio said her son-in-law was forced to spend Shs300,000 in four days to get his wife and their newborn treated.
“From day one, when we arrived in the evening, we were made to provide all the kits before she was moved to the labour room, and every time the health workers wanted something to help her, they asked us to buy them,” Ms Apio said.
The two mentioned cases plus numerous reports of extortion of patients and theft of drugs and other medical supplies by the hospital staff prompted the district’s leaders to conduct an impromptu visit to the hospital.
During the visit, the leaders, including district councillors, RDC, and the district internal security officer, discovered that health workers were stealing drugs, among other vices.
It was also discovered that medical workers force patients to pay before they are treated at the government health facility were most services are supposed to be free.
While the hospital management agreed that patients pay Shs10,000 to access X-ray services, it is alleged that the hospital’s staff were making patients pay between Shs30,000 and Shs45,000.
Dr Godfrey Kisembo, the hospital medical superintendent, admitted that the administration was aware of the rising cases of extortion and was doing all it could do to eliminate the vice.
Management responds
“Extortion is still a challenge (at the hospital), it may not only be at the X-ray unit, but this is again a decay of our morality as civil servants, everything is tagged to money. Right now, people ask for money, and I don’t know how we can redeem ourselves,” Dr Kisembo said.
“The work we do is in a very volatile and sensitive environment, imagine the person a health worker extorts from has a life like them. This is a huge challenge and we shall keep talking to the health workers,” he added.
The district leaders also tasked Dr Kisembo to explain the recent death of a patient, allegedly due to negligence of health workers after the deceased failed to pay a bribe.
However, he blamed the patient’s demise on the lack of reliable electricity supply at the hospital, adding that understaffing and drug stock-outs had rendered them ineffective.
“It was unfortunate that the patient (mother) reacted to the drug administered to her and when we attempted to save here, there was no electricity to run the theatre, not even the backup generator,” he said.
Dr Kisembo stated that the doctor accused of extortion was summoned before the hospital’s disciplinary and sanctions committee where he admitted to the offence and apologised.
Local leaders intervene
Mr Jonathan Akweteireho, the Kiryandongo deputy RDC, said the drug theft challenge at the hospital was being compounded by senior officers at the facility who frustrated their efforts to arrest and prosecute the suspects.
“We take action but the problem is, having the staff, and medical officials being involved in stifling the efforts of security, and that mess has indirectly made us part of the criminals. I arrest a thief, and the hospital staff goes to work with police to kill the case,” he said.
Mr Akweteireho said his office has records of hospital staff who try to influence the State Attorney’s office to drop cases against their colleagues facing charges of drug theft, among others.
Mr Washington Ocaya, a district councillor for Karuma Town Council, blamed the extortion on laxity by the hospital administration.
“They are aware of all these irregularities and they take no action against the culprits,” he said.
During the engagement, the hospital’s administration admitted that sometimes, gatekeepers collected money from patients.
“The money collected must be receipted and deposited in the hospital’s account to counter extortion; In some hospitals, patients and their attendants pay for parking but they are issued receipts which funds go into a particular account of the facility,” Mr Ocaya said.
Mr David Atenyi Ndamurani, the chairperson of the hospital’s board of governors, said: “We are meeting next week and are going to come up with measures to end such vices and put things right at the hospital.”
Ms Edith Aliguma Adyeri, the district chairperson, said funds have been set aside to procure a new generator for the hospital and restore water supply in most units of the hospital.
“On the issue of the generator, there is already Shs90m that has been earmarked to buy a backup generator, a separate Shs40m has also been set aside to restore the dilapidated and malfunctioned water system of the hospital,” Ms Aliguma said.
