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The New Vision has since October 19, published stories highlighting the plight of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) and compliance of public facilities with laws governing this disadvantaged group in Uganda. 

In today’s article, Jackie Nambogga looks at the treatment of PWDs in Jinja city medical facilities, schools and administration.

While Jinja Regional Referral Hospital serves the entire Busoga sub-region, including the neighbouring districts in Buganda, the facility’s labour ward lacks special delivery beds for mothers with disabilities. 

The principal hospital administrator, David Semakula, says when the mothers are admitted, the medics have to improvise. 

According to Semakula, health workers usually place a wooden stool for the mothers to step on so that they can get up to the beds.

However, this provision is for only those who are able to stand. 

Those with physical disability have to be lifted onto the delivery beds. Regrettably, such assistance is not accorded to them by health workers.

Harriet Kawuma having a light moment with her daughter Zaituna Nawula.

Kawuma was humiliated while pregnant 

Harriet Kawuma says she lost her first, second and third babies as a result of neglect by health workers at the facility. 

The three times she turned up to give birth at the hospital, Kawuma says she would turn into an issue of public debate as midwives asked each other what kind of man could have “disturbed” such a person. 

“The health workers would speak ill about the person responsible for my pregnancies, wondering why men go for women like us who can’t walk. They forget that we are also human beings,” Kawuma states. 

By the time they would consider taking her to the theatre to be operated on, the babies would be dead. She lost two boys and a girl.

However, when she conceived for the fourth time, Kawuma chose to seek medical attention at a private facility to avoid humiliation. 

She gave birth to a baby girl, Zaituna Nawula, at Nsambya Hospital in Kampala. 

Two years later, she was blessed with a baby boy, Arafat Igibolu, at the same facility. 

Nawula, 24, and Igibolu, 22, do not have any disability. Nawula is about to graduate from Makerere University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Services for PWDs at Jinja Hospital 

Meanwhile, at Jinja Hospital, Semakula says the facility lacks ramps, save for the just renovated structures, such as the laboratory, wards 2 and 3 and the private wing. 

The newly constructed second laboratory comprises a one-stance modified toilet for PWDs. 

“Since test samples, such as a stool and urine, are required from the majority of patients, it was important to have one for PWDs, both males and females, because their number is not so high,” says Semakula. 

He lauded New Vision for this project, which is highlighting the plight of PWDs in regard to accessing public places. 

“We cannot hide away from facts because this is how we shall be able to bridge the gaps,” he says. 

Similarly, at Walukuba Health Centre IV, located in Jinja city southern division, the maternity wing is not accessible right from the path that leads to the ward. 

Henry Mugimba, walking on one of the 26 ramps at Jinja central market Henry Mugimba walking at Jinja Central Market.

One of the health workers confessed to Dr Joseph Wakonta Najoma, the in-charge of the facility, that they instructed a man to carry his crawling wife into the labour suite, which does not have a special bed for them.

“She could not get into the ward on her own, so I asked her husband to carry her,” the health worker said.

In case it rains, mothers who crawl get soiled with mud because the dilapidated premises are not paved. 

The antenatal wing is another facility that cannot be accessed by persons with disabilities. 

Instead, such mothers stop somewhere within the compound and in case they are accompanied, people who escort them are the ones who get to speak to the health workers on their behalf. 

According to Wakonta, it is only the theatre, general ward and the entrance to the outpatient area that have ramps, while the laboratory and maternity ward do not. 

Also, the facility does not have a special bathroom for PWDs. However, the new men’s ward that is under construction will have ramps. 

However, while health facilities in the region are grappling with compliance to PWDs laws, Jinja Main Central Market is a different story.

The two-storey structure has 26 entrances with both ramps and steps. Henry Mugimba, the chairperson of the market vendors’ association, says the premises can be accessed by all categories of people. 

At both levels, Mugimba says the facility has special washrooms for the PWDs. 

“The space is wide enough for the wheelchair users, as well as the visually challenged,” he says. 

However, Mugimba regrets that the market is not well-zoned, adding that save for the butchers, the rest of the stalls are mixed up. 

He says this does not only confuse PWDs alone but all the users of the market and he asked the Jinja city authorities to fix the mess.

Jinja City/District Headquarters 

Meanwhile, at Jinja city and district headquarters, which are a stone’s throw away from each other, both facilities have ramps at the entrances. But at the district offices, those who use wheelchairs cannot access the education and finance departments. 

They are only able to access offices of the LC5 chairperson, the speaker and chief administrative officer. 

Daniel Mboizi, 16, a Primary Seven learner, during the special braille mathematics lesson at Spire Road School of the Blind.

Also, the accessible lower side hosts the office of the resident district commissioner, DISO and information officer. At the city offices, the upper floor hosts the council chambers. 

This reminds Kawuma, a former councillor for PWDs, who required three people to carry her up the stairs whenever they held council and committee meetings. 

Peter Mawerere, the Jinja city deputy town clerk, adds that they do not have special toilets for PWDs. 

“We have the council chambers, which are upstairs, including major offices of the mayor, city clerks, health, engineering and environmental departments, which cannot be accessed by PWDs,” he says. 

It took the intervention of the deputy mayor of Jinja city, Fazira Kawuma, to relocate the office of the city service commission to the ground floor.

The commission comprises a member with a disability. Mawerere says they will engage their engineer to see if they can install a lift to improve accessibility of offices by all. 

Much as the law requires that public structures should be accessible by all, Mawerere explains that this is not the case right from their offices, health centres, local markets and schools. 

For instance, at Spire Road Primary School, located in the city centre, which enrolls visually impaired children, only six of the 36 classrooms have ramps.

On a brighter note, however, at Nakanyonyi Primary School in Jinja city northern division, it is only the Primary Seven block and two out of the three P6 classrooms that do not have ramps. 

Sarah Namatovu, the senior assistant in charge of education and finance at Nakanyonyi, says ramps were installed at the office. 

They also have a special latrine stance which caters for girls and boys with disbilities. 

Before, they had one pupil with a physical disability, but currently, they do not have any and the latrine is locked. 

At Jinja Main Street Primary School in Jinja city southern division, David Kabedi, the deputy headteacher, says five out of 13 blocks have ramps.

The school boasts of two special toilets one for girls and the other for boys, but like at Nakanyonyi, they currently do not have a learner with disability. 

According to Mawerere, constructing ramps at all health and educational institutions is a huge task. 

“This has huge financial implications; we cannot cover all of them in a short time, but there is great appreciation for the plight of PWDs in terms of access to social services,” says Mawerere. 

Edward Senyende, the deputy headteacher in charge of Spire Road Primry School of the visually impaired, says the new block came with ramps, including a new pit-latrine, which has one special stance. 

Since all the 60 pupils are accommodated within the school campus, Senyende says these prefer using the flush toilets in their dormitories because they can easily sit on them, away from the special pit-latrine where the majority fail to aim properly. 

“Since some cannot see completely, it becomes hard for them to target the hole while using the special latrine. They end up being led back to the dormitories, where they use the flush toilets,” he says.

Parents to blame  

Like Senyende, Mawerere decries the discrimination against children with disabilities in the community. 

He says some parents assume that such children are a curse or menace. Mawerere says the children are usually abandoned by their parents once they learn of such schools that offer them an education. 

“The biggest amount of work is within the community, who think such children are a curse. There is a need to sensitise the public,” says the city clerk. 

According to Senyende, the negative attitude begins from home. It starts with parents refusing to provide the children’s basics at school, yet support from government reduced from sh1.5m to sh870,000 per term.

“This is a drop in the ocean, yet we have to pay utility bills. But parents do not contribute,” he says. 

The money is used to purchase food, firewood, medication and writing materials. Another cost is braille paper, which goes for sh270,000 per box, per week. 

During a Primary Seven mathematics lesson where they use the braille machines, the New Vision found that the teacher, Abu Muzeyi, had improvised with manila paper because the braille paper was out of stock. Muzeyi, who is also visually impaired, refers to the braille machine as a book and pen for the learners. 

However, out of the 35 machines at the school, only 10 are functional and serving the 60 learners. As a result, priority is given to Primary Six and Seven learners as the rest of the classes remain in inclusive studies. 

The 25 broken machines are over 15 years old and repairing each requires sh70,000. 

Senyende says the unit depends on well-wishers, such as the Jinja Rotary Club and Indian Association of Uganda, who always support them.

Recomendations 

Dr Joseph Wakonta, the in-charge of Walukuba Health Centre IV in Jinja city southern division, says all maternity wards must have special delivery beds for PWDs. 

He says there is also need to recruit interpreters at every facility to ease communication for those with hearing impairment and speech problems.

Henry Mugimba, the chairperson Jinja Central Market vendors, says: “Since we have a public address system, we shall be running recorded jingles in different languages targeting PWDs.” 

David Semakula, the principal hospital administrator, says much as confidentiality matters in health, this is an issue which the ministries of health and public service should consider reviewing in the health structure by bringing on board staff with special needs skills. 

He says this will simplify communication between patients and health workers.

This article was produced with support from WAN-IFRA Women In News Social Impact Reporting Initiative grant. However, the views are not those of WAN-IFRA Women in News.

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