Dr. Ssali''s appeal hearing postponed

By Martha Kagimba & Michael Odeng

Kampala High Court has postponed an appeal in which the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) is seeking to overturn a lower court’s decision that cleared fertility doctor, Edward Tamale Ssali of charges of causing the death of a patient by rash and negligent act.

Buganda Road Court Chief Magistrate, Olive Kazaarwe, acquitted Ssali, the director of Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre in Bukoto on June 13, 2014 on grounds that the prosecution failed to bring the lead suspect Rafique Parker, the doctor who carried out the surgery, to court.

The state prosecutor, Lino Anguzu asked court presided over by Justice Albert Frank Rugadya-Atwooki to adjourn the case, stating that they were not served with a letter notifying them to appear in court.  

“I request for this case to be adjourned because I was only given instructions to serve as the state prosecutor yesterday hence causing me to be unprepared,” Anguzu said.

This prompted Atwooki to postpone the case until further notice. “The DPP shall have to apply for a date such that the appeal is heard again”.

In October 14, 2010 Mercy Ayiru died at Ssali’s Fertility Centre in Bukoto, a suburb of Kampala, while undergoing an operation to remove fibroids.

Prior to that, Ssali and his co-accused anaesthetist, Christopher Kirunda were accused of causing the death of Ayiru. Meanwhile a post-mortem report from Mulago Hospital indicated that the deceased died of cardiac arrest.

In his appeal at the High Court in Kampala, the DPP stated that he was dissatisfied with the lower court’s decision when it acquitted the case, calling it a gross miscarriage of justice. 

Therefore he sought that the order of the acquittal be set aside as he wants the respondents to be found guilty and convicted accordingly.