Toddler in coma after purported Mulago doctors' operation, Minister Petitioned

POLICE | FAKE DOCTORS | MINISTER                             

KAMPALA - Ahmed Wandera, a boda boda rider and his wife, Brenda Kukiriza whose baby was wrongly operated by men who claim to be doctors attached to Mulago National Referral Hospital have appealed for the intervention of Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi, the state minister for youth and children affairs. 

They have appealed to the minister to intervene in the case involving the doctors who were arrested by the police on suspicion that there were plans to release them. 

They have also appealed to well-wishers for financial help. 

“I was not mindful that these were wrong people. One of them approached me at the hospital gate and was properly dressed like a real doctor and putting a stethoscope around his neck, he convinced me that he was a surgeon and had worked on many patients with similar complaints,” said Wandera. 

Purported Mulago doctors Aloysius Wakwamunu (L) and George Patrick Ogwapiti (M) being escorted by a police detective on arrival at Wandegeya police station after they were arrested in connection with carrying an illegal surgery on a baby near Mulago Hospital on April 15,2021.

He was Thursday (April 16, 2021) speaking to journalists at Mulago Police Station where two men, George Patrick Ogwapiti and one referring to himself as Dr. Aloysius Wakwamunu was arrested for allegedly conducting an illegal surgery on his one-year and half old baby, Ashiraf Wandera. 

“My baby is in bad condition, I am appealing to everyone, the media, minister Nakiwala, Mama Fiina, everyone please help me to save the life of my child,” Wandera said amidst sobs. 

He was worried after getting information that the police at Mulago was planning to release the suspects. 

Wandera explained that he had been referred from Kawempe Hospital but at the Old Mulago gate, one of the suspects who dressed like a doctor intercepted him and asked to look at the hospital documents, including the scan results. 

Ashiraf Wandera was wrongly operated, and now in coma.

“He told me he was working at Mulago Hospital and that he was a specialist in that field,” he said, adding that Ogwapiti introduced himself as a medical doctor. 

He said there were also many doctors walking up and down between Old Mulago gate and the New Mulago entrance, with a police station in between the walkable distance. 

Patients on stretchers are also pushed from Old Mulago to New Mulago, using the busy section. 

Wandera said that during the short interaction on Monday, April 12, 2021, Ogwapiti lured him to one of the clinics outside the gate where he invited his colleague and after examining the baby, they demanded for sh1.5m to carry out the surgery on the same day. 

Aloysius Wakwamunu and George Patrick Ogwapiti being led to Wandegeya Police.

“I did not have the money but I accepted to pay them sh1m, I left my wife and the baby and went to town where I borrowed the money from a microfinance bank,” he explained. 

 He said the men transferred the child to another nearby clinic and gave him an injection before the actual surgery. But the parents were alarmed when the baby suddenly changed and went into a coma. 

According to Wandera, the men took the baby to a room where they conducted the operation but after a while, they came out and told them that the operation had been completed.   

They cut the baby’s private parts and tried to pull his testes to surface but in the process, they allegedly tampered with his sensitive nerves and damaged his reproductive system. 

The baby has been readmitted to Mulago National Specialised Hospital. 

Wandera said that the men changed the child to another clinic where they abandoned it but the workers also asked the parents to take away the child because he was in bad shape. 

An unidentified parent (second right) warns a police detective (second left) who was chasing away journalists and blocking them from interviewing parents over the matter.

“When Ogwampiti came the next day, he invited his colleagues and asked me to keep quiet about the matter and promised to refund my money,” he said, adding that the suspect led him to Wandegeya to withdraw money from the bank, which he said he never did. 

On their way back, however, Wandera says Ogwapiti who was ahead moving on a boda boda directed the rider to continue and they passed the clinic. 

But when he tried to stop them, they continued and he decided to chase them while making an alarm. He was intercepted by boda boda riders at Kyebando flyover and taken to Mulago Police station.    

There was drama on Thursday as police officers attached to the station tried to block journalists from covering the men as they were being transferred to Wandegeya Police Station.

This was after the DPC, James Kawalya physically went to pick the suspects. Some policemen also attempted to block the parents from talking to journalists and threatened to destroy the journalists’ cameras saying the coverage would give a bad image to the police.   

Kawalya who later explained about the arrest at Wandegeya was heard saying he personally moved to pick the men after suspecting that they would be protected by some individuals at the Mulago police station.