By Milton Olupot

NYAKIBALE Hospital in Rukungiri district is stranded with a man, whose jaws were shattered in an attack by an elephant on Augusts 27 as he tended his garden at Kihihi village in Kanungu district.

Mustapha Batanyenda, 48, is said to have been hurled by an elephant onto a tree, injuring him severely. He now needs extensive facial recontructive surgery, according to Dr. Ronald Kasyaba.

“For him to regain near normalcy, this surgical reconstruction has to be done, that is if he has not died by the time he gets help. The breathing passage is partly blocked by the injuries,” Kasyaba said in a letter to The New Vision.

“I have been told that when members of communities living near parks get injured by animals outside gazetted areas they get assistance from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) but it appears to be different this time,” he added.

Kasyaba said he had on two separate occasions contacted the Queen Elizabeth National Park warden, Okello Tom, in vain.

“I have not got any assistance and I believe this (The New Vision) is the only option I am left with,” he said.

Since the attack, the patient has only received emergency care.

Kasyaba said the injured man and his relatives cannot afford to facilitate the transfer to Mbarara or Mulago Hospital.

UWA spokesperson Lillian Nsubuga yesterday expressed regret over the incident and said the authority was ‘working out some assistance for the victim’.

“We are sad about what happened to that man. We don’t want these animals to go and kill people or destroy their property. We have tried to ensure this and to promote co-existence between the wild animals and human beings,” she said.

Although compensation is not provided for in the World Life Act, Nsubuga said, the authority provides assistance to affected people.

She, however, cautioned the public against cultivating so close to the gazetted parks.

“There is supposed to be a buffer zone between human settlements and the parks,” she said.