Starving patients show poor healthcare!

Jul 16, 2003

SIR— Having spent the past five years in Mulago Hospital, working in and out of the hospital wards, I was not surprised by the lack of food in the hospital as reported in the press last week.

SIR— Having spent the past five years in Mulago Hospital, working in and out of the hospital wards, I was not surprised by the lack of food in the hospital as reported in the press last week.
What struck me was the manner in which the catering department handled the situation and the satisfaction they expressed after normalisation of activities in the department, one meal a day for the patients. During the past five years food supply has been irregular and patients have gone without meals for longer periods.
The paradox, is how the catering team thinks this is now the time to raise the alarm of a fire in the catering department which has been ablaze about their eyes for quite some time. Showing the consequences of the fire, ashes and charred pieces of wood to the world via the press, is truly the quintessence of hypocrisy.
Despite poor funding, not all factors related to lack of meals and poor quality meals are the result of lack of money. For it does not explain professional inadequacies like undercooked meals and monotonous diets. The excuse of the hike in fuel prices as was suggested by one of the catering officials was a desperate attempt to dissuade the public from the core problem.
The outdated trick of politicising issues, diverting attention from the centre of the matter to the periphery, carelessly heaping blame on others won’t free the department from culpability. Instead, it will be the eye-opener to the malady in the department.
In the general wards, food is not provided on plates. Patients without personal plates miss out. For heaven’s sake, no one ever prepares to be admitted to hospital. One single meal of posho and beans a day, a cup of porridge in the morning throughout the week cannot meet the demands of the human body and are a prerequisite to a sickly person. Posho and porridge are the same foods: Only a chemist would be interested in their difference.
Patients in the private wing have better catering services, so exposing the injustice in the system. Patients will always be patients irrespective of their status in society. Food is a basic human right, and it’s disheartening that one is denied this vital component of life at a time when most vulnerable to the hand of death. A balanced diet does not only address quality and quantity but also recovery.
Uganda is a rich country blessed with plenty of natural foods, water and a beautiful climate to support an affordable, sustainable and economically viable agricultural sector from which all Ugandans should benefit irrespective of their position in society. To a true Ugandan, this may seem an exaggeration of what’s on the ground. But take a ride to Kalerwe Market, only a kilometre from Mulago Hospital, all the evidence will be splashing in your face — lots of fresh greens, vegetables, meat, matooke, potatoes, cassava, name them, all at shockingly affordable prices. But the catering team in Mulago has just brought to light the dark spot in the hospital’s management of its healthcare service to the public.

Name withheld on request

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