Doctor accepts blame for death of patient

By Steven Candia

DR. Edward Tamale Ssali on Wednesday admitted responsibility for the death of a patient who was undergoing an operation at his hospital in Kampala last year.

Tamale Ssali said that the hospital was ready to compensate the bereaved family.

“I wish to extend my condolences to the bereaved family. Death is something that affects all of us. We take full responsibility for what happened,” Ssali, the head of Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre, reportedly told a medical council investigating the issue.

“We would like to sit with you to see how we can compensate you,” he told the bereaved family.

Last year, Mercy Ayiru died at Ssali’s Fertility Centre in Bukoto, a suburb of Kampala, while undergoing an operation to remove fibroids. Tamale Ssali is an obstetrician and gynaecologist.

Ssali made the offer while appearing before the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council, which supervises doctors in Uganda. He was summoned last month over allegations of professional misconduct, which was blamed for Ayiru’s death on October 14, 2010.

A source close to the investigation team said that Tamale Ssali was grilled for about three hours in a charged atmosphere. More than five family members of Ayiru, including her father, sat and listened quietly as the inquiry went on.

Speaking as the third and last witness of the day, Tamale Ssali asked for an out of court settlement. The inquiry was held behind closed doors at the government analytical laboratories boardroom in Kampala. However, the Council did not reach a decision because more witnesses are yet to appear. It was also not clear if the family would accept Tamale Ssali’s offer.

The 63-year-old Ssali was dressed in a black stripped suit, a white and blue striped shirt and a matching neck tie.

A source who attended the grilling said that when Ssali made the offer, he turned around and faced the bereaved family, who were seated behind him squarely. He reportedly asked the family to nominate a leader to handle the compensation process.

“That person could get in touch with my lawyer and we settle this,” he reportedly said. The lawyer, Ruth Sebatindira, was present at the inquiry, the source said.

The head of the council, Dr. Okullo Dom Joel, assisted by lead council John Bosco Suuza and registrar Dr. Katumba Ssentongo as well as members Dr. Margaret Mungherera and Dr. Juliet Mwanja, among others were present.

The source said the council members fired tough questions at Tamale Ssali. Dr. Ssentongo confirmed that the council sat but declined to comment.

“We did not reach a decision as most of the key witnesses did not appear. We will convene another meeting with them before a verdict can be reached.”

Asked about other details including Dr. Tamale’s willingness to compensate the bereaved family, Dr. Ssentongo was cagey.

“We are under instructions not to talk to you. On that I don’t know. The other time you carried a story and the defendant complained so much. It damaged the council,” he said and hanged up.

Saturday Vision, a sister newspaper of the New Vision Online, broke the story recently.

It said Ayiru, 34, a financial administrator and a resident of Ntinda, died while undergoing operation at the facility, formerly known as the Kampala Gynaecology & Fertility Centre.

 The operation was carried out by Prof./Dr. Rafique Parker, a visiting doctor from Kenya who was not registered with the council.

Yesterday’s proceedings were captured on video and in writing and Dr. Tamale Ssali reportedly described the mishap as a ‘total disaster’, which had shocked him. He spoke after two other witnesses Dr. Sylvester Onzivua, a pathologist at the Mulago medical school and Milburga Aceru, a sister of the deceased, had testified. 

The council summoned Tamale Ssali last month over charges of neglect, failure to supervise an anaesthetist, Christopher Kirunda, which led to Ayiru’s death. A postmortem report indicated the cause of the death as cardiac arrest.

It also accused Dr. Ssali of engaging Prof/Dr. Rafique B Parker, a Kenyan national, who was not registered to practise in Uganda as required by law.

Yesterday Dr. Tamale Ssali reportedly admitted that Dr. Parker, who he said had served in numerous hospitals in Kampala, was ineligible to practise in Uganda.

“At that time I thought that given that he is registered in Kenya, he could work in Uganda but I have now learnt that that is not the case.” 

Asked about the cause of death, Dr. Tamale Sali said it was anaesthetic death. Probed further as to what that meant, he reportedly said: “It was as a result of wrong intubation.”

A death certificate of Ayiru from the centre also indicated the cause of death as cardiac arrest during induction of anesthesia. Dr. Parker, in a statement to the police, blamed the death on an intubation process gone wrong.

Asked about the procedure used for recruiting external medical practitioners like Dr. Parker, Dr.Tamale Ssali reportedly stunned the council when he said he relied on word of mouth and did not check their CVs for their competencies.

“I could rely mostly on information got from doctors I interact with,” he reportedly said. Dr. Suuza then asked: “Can I note that you do not have any back ground information on this man (Kirunda) apart from verbal information.”

Dr. Tamale Ssali said both Kirunda and Dr. Parker had long ceased working at the centre following the incident. 

Dr. Onzivua, who took part in carrying out a postmortem on Ayiru, also told the inquiry yesterday that she died of cardiac arrest. Ayiru’s sister, Aceru, who accompanied her to the hospital on the fateful day, reportedly narrated the events before, during and after the botched up operation.