Why did Peninah Ngategize die?

Her children – Nara Nalia Amanya, Brian Migisha, Allison Kyokunda, and Patience Gertrude Karungi – living and working in the United Kingdom and the USA, were happy for their mother and looked forward to seeing her again, her pain-free mobility restored and her happy self on full display.

Kyoheirwe appeared to be well in the immediate period following the operation on Monday April 4.  She died the following day, at the age of 63, felled by what is believed to have been pulmonary embolism, a sudden obstruction of part of the blood vessels that carry blood to the lungs.

News of her death was extremely shocking to me and to her very many friends around the world. Members of the International Community of Banyakigezi (ICOB) were numbed by the death of this wonderful lady whose passion for our organization was only surpassed by her dependability, resourcefulness, and unwavering focus on our core goals and objectives.

Kyoheirwe was one of those people whose opinions and advice I regularly sought on various matters. Her words, always measured, came with the power of truthfulness and problem-solving orientation. Her promises were powered by her history of delivered commitments. Her offer of service was always well received because of her track record of sacrificial giving to the community.

Penny the patriot. Kyoheirwe the friend of many. Ms Ngategize the gentle lady with a smile that lit up the room. A mother to more than those who had known her womb. A wife of our brother whose marital contentment was easy to read. Gone just like that. No farewell. Not even a warning of danger ahead.

Our pain is nothing compared to that which her husband, her children and her immediate family feel. I cannot imagine the grief borne by Charles Kwesiga, her older brother who is the Executive Director of the Ugandan Industrial Research Institute. It was Kwesiga who took his sister to the United States over 40 years ago to further her education at the Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio.

Our pain is shared by people with whom she worked at the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, at the Uganda Cooperative Alliance in Kampala, at the Uganda Revenue Authority in Kampala, and in many business and philanthropic endeavours that kept her busy and productive to the end. Among these was her outstanding work as a member of Kigezi High School Old Students Association where she kept a dependable eye on their finances.

To some, death is something we should accept as a normal occurrence. After all, about 810 people in Uganda die every day. In Sub-Saharan Africa, just over 26,000 people die every day. The worldwide figure is just over 166,000 daily deaths.

To me, these are awful and unacceptable numbers to read. Yes, we are all destined to die. As the Teacher tells us in Ecclesiastes, there is a time to be born and a time to die.  And as Moses so accurately prays to the Lord in Psalm 90, “all our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”

I certainly do not need a reminder about death’s reality.  My profession has brought me face to face with many deaths – of the unborn and of the elderly, of the wealthy and of the poor, of people of all races and of every socioeconomic station.

However, I refuse to accept death’s power over us, and I yield no ground in the fight against it until it wins. When we accept death with the attitude that “it happens”, we forego the opportunity to do everything humanly possible to prevent it or defer it.

That is why I have been asking two questions: Why did Peninnah die? Was everything done to prevent her death?  I do not ask these questions for Peninah’s sake. It is too late.  I ask them because I must.

At a minimum, a thorough examination of her hospitalization and death should be done. It is the only way we can seek opportunities for improvement and lessen the risks to others that will undergo surgery, not only at CorSU Rehabilitation Hospital, but in other hospitals all over the country.

If the cause of death was pulmonary embolism, it was almost certainly caused by either a blood clot that had travelled from her leg or pelvic area, or by air or fat from the bone marrow secondary to the surgical operation.

This complication, very well known to healthcare professionals, is always a potential threat to the lives of people who undergo surgical procedures, especially hip or knee replacement procedures. This awareness mandates careful risk assessment of the patient, appropriate advice regarding preventive measures, including prescription of blood thinners before and after the operation.

Furthermore, the potential suddenness of lung complication demands round-the clock availability of professionals with expertise and resources for detection and effective management of a patient that has developed this dangerous complication.

Advances in medical science and vigilant readiness to deal with this problem in many countries have significantly reduced the post-operative deaths and complications that were a great source of anxiety a few years ago.

The improved outcomes for patients with blood clots in the lung that have been registered in many countries have not been accidental or good luck occurrences. They have been a result of priority spending on health care for all citizens, with public and private hospital preparedness for the worst-case scenarios.

We mourn our sister and friend. We see her beautiful smile and feel her presence. We are encouraged to emulate her outstanding qualities. In the words of Sarah Sebikari of New Jersey USA, Penny was loving, gracious, available, calm, selfless, kind, and much more.

Just like Moses prays in Psalm 90 again, may the Lord teach us to number our days, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom that our beloved Penny Ngategize had in spades.

Muniini K. Mulera is Ugandan-Canadian social and political observer.    

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