ACCIDENTS | BODAS | REHABILITATION

Rehabilitation experts have urged the Government to improve rehabilitation services across the country, especially now that many Ugandans are being physically incapacitated by bodaboda accidents. 

Dr. Freddie Ssengoba from Makerere University School of Public Health said the increasing bodaboda accidents were creating immense demand for rehabilitation services because of the many deaths and injuries being registered. 

“In Uganda, almost everyone knows someone who has suffered directly or indirectly as a result of a bodaboda accident. So, the demand for preventive and rehabilitation services is growing because of bodaboda,” he said, during a seven-day training of stakeholders in the rehabilitation sector at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala. 

The training started on September 17 and will end on 25. The event which was organised by ReLAB-HS and US-based John Hopkins University, drew rehabilitation experts and other stakeholders from Pakistan, Ukraine, Burma, Ethiopia, Uganda and the US. 

According to the Police, there were 17,443 road accidents reported in 2021, an increase of 42% from the 12,249 reported the previous year. 

Isaac Kakooza, the president of the Uganda Association of Physiotherapy, asked the Government to improve safety in the bodaboda sector, saying it is contributing to over 80% of the fracture injuries in Ugandan hospitals. 

“There is need for stringent regulation and training in the bodaboda sector in order to prevent accidents. People may not know this but injuries resulting from the bodaboda industry are taking a toll on the economy. When some gets injured, they will not be able to work and that will have an impact on the economy. So, the Government should know that the economy will suffer if no action is taken,” he said. 

He also called for the deployment of more physiotherapists in the lower health facilities to ensure people who need the services get them. 

Rehabilitation experts from Pakistan, Burma, Ethiopia and Uganda share views at Munyonyo on Thursday.

Physiotherapy helps to restore movement and function when someone is affected by injury, illness or disability. It can also help to reduce your risk of injury or illness in the future. 

Currently, physiotherapists are only deployed to regional and national referral hospitals. 

“The Government needs to recruit more rehabilitation workers at the lower level to make it easy for people to get services, especially those who cannot afford to go to the regional and national referral hospitals. There is also need to restructure the public service to allow the recruitment of graduate physiotherapists,” he said. 

The experts noted that rehabilitation in developing countries gets very little attention from the Government it is a service that everybody may need at a certain point because of increasing road accidents, age-related conditions and lifestyle diseases such as diabetes which lead to amputations, accidents and age. 

The director of ReLAB-HS, Associate Professor Abdul Bachani, called for the need to integrate rehabilitation with other health services in the effective treatment of ailments. 

“Currently, rehabilitation services in hospitals such as Mulago are isolated from others. If someone comes to a hospital for treatment, the management should make sure that rehabilitation experts are part of the treatment team,” he said. 

Bachani said they were in the process of spreading rehabilitation skills among all health workers in Uganda to ensure that people at the grassroots get services. 

“We do not want a situation where a person has to travel from Iganga district to Kampala in order to access rehabilitation services. We want to train health workers in the lower level facilities to provide this care at the community level,” Bachani said. 

He said as life expectancy improves, people live longer with chronic conditions to old age and need rehabilitation services to remain functional. 

Strengthen workshops for limbs  

Ssevume Kauma Abbey, the principal orthopaedic technology officer at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital and president of the Uganda Association of Orthopaedic Technologists, appealed to the Government to reform the recruitment of orthopaedic technologists.   

“Right now, the Government just gives you an appointment letter with no tools or budget to work with. We mostly rely on implementing partners for necessary materials and components, who are also specific on target clients such as war victims who sustained injuries. The Government last supplied us materials in 2011,” 

He said most people who need the materials such as artificial limbs wait for NGOs to provide them in the workshops that are mostly located in the regional referral hospitals. 

“When an NGO provides Gulu Hospital with materials, people travel from as far as Kabale and Kasese districts to get them in Gulu because it is the only available chance,” Ssevume said.