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Nurse accused of infecting child with HIV dies
Ms Rosemary Namubiru in a dock at Buganda Road court during the hearing of a case in which she was accused of pricking a baby with a contaminated cannula. File photo
What you need to know:
- In 2013, Namubiru was convicted of criminal negligence and sentenced to three years in prison after court ruled that she intentionally exposed her patient to HIV.
A nurse living with HIV, who accidently exposed a two-year-old patient to her blood in 2013 while working in a private health facility, has succumbed to kidney failure.
Rosemary Namubiru breathed her last on Saturday night at Kiruddu hospital where she had been admitted for two days, according to the Executive Director of International Community of Women Living with HIV/Aids in East Africa (ICWLEA), Ms Lillian Mworeko.
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“She passed on last night. She was first admitted to Mild May Hospital on Thursday last week. When her condition worsened, she was transferred to Kiruddu hospital. They thought they would probably manage the condition but she was already weak,” Ms Mworeko told Daily Monitor yesterday.
Ms Mworeko said the deceased has been living in Sseguku on Entebbe road and has been unemployed since 2013. She is expected to be burred today.
“She was working in a private facility when the incident happened. She has not been working since then. We have been giving her money here and there,” she said.
In 2013, Namubiru was convicted of criminal negligence and sentenced to three years in prison after court ruled that she intentionally exposed her patient to HIV.
“The support started long ago in 2013 when she was arrested, and imprisoned. We had to get lawyers to handle the case,” she said.
Some members of the civil society at the condemned Namubiru’s arrest which they described as a highly biased and pre-judicial trial.
Case
Her lawyers then appealed to the Appeals court, which later overturned the case and conviction.
“We are grateful that the court has made a right decision today. Namubiru never should have received the punishment that was handed down, and court has affirmed this. While a workplace error was committed, this does not make Namubiru a criminal, and the distortions and attacks by the media have ruined her life. This ruling has given her some measure of justice,” a statement from the civil society organisations read in part at the time.
