Mulago registers 50 accident victims on Easter

ACCIDENT | MULAGO

KAMPALA - Over 50 people are nursing severe injuries at Mulago Hospital after they were involved in separate accidents during Easter celebrations.

The hospital's spokesperson, Enock Kusasira, said the number of victims registered is high compared to normal days.

"We usually register 30 accident victims on a daily basis. The number of road traffic accident has increased because people usually drive recklessly during such celebrations,'' Kusasira said.

He added that all the victims have been examined and some of them have undergone surgeries, while others are being treated. Kusasira said most of the victims admitted were involved in bodaboda accidents.

Victims speak out

Rashid Mugabi, 30, a resident of Mengo , was knocked down on Easter Sunday by a bodaboda cyclist as he was crossing the road near his home.

Mugabi, who has undergone a brain CT-Scan, is being taken care of by his sister.

A CT-Scan is used to check the brain for tumors or other lesions, injuries, bleeding in the brain, structural anomalies, infections, brain function changes, and other conditions.

Silvesta Tabula, a resident of Mutundwe Kirinyabigo, was also knocked down by a bodaboda cyclist. He sustained a fractured leg and is currently admitted at the emergency and accident ward.

Other victims are Ganious Asiimwe, a resident of Mukono. He was knocked by a speeding vehicle. He sustained head injuries and a fractured limb.

Statistics

According to the Ministry of health Management Information System 2015/2016, injuries accounted for 768,645 out of 53,561,472 total outpatient cases.

At Mulago Hospital, majority of the injury cases registered are caused by boda-boda cyclists.  In 2013, the Makerere University College of Health Sciences revealed that Mulago Hospital spends sh1.5b on treating bodaboda victims every year.

"When weighed against the annual budget allocation of about sh2.4b to the directorate of surgery, this translates to 62.5%."

The report highlighted that bodaboda victims spend 18% longer time in hospital than other trauma patients. "The average cost of managing a patient with bodaboda injuries is sh700,359 over the eight-day (or more) hospital stay.

Maintaining patients in the ward costs sh151,172, 382, while the total theatre cost come to sh73, 642, 813.