Kibirige admitted at Mulago

Sep 30, 2008

Agriculture state minister Dr. Israel Kibirige Ssebunya has been admitted at Mulago hospital in a critical condition.

By Anne Mugisa

Agriculture state minister Dr. Israel Kibirige Ssebunya has been admitted at Mulago hospital in a critical condition.

Kibirige, who is also the Member of Parliament for Kyaddondo North in Wakiso district, is suffering from cancer of the tongue.

By yesterday, access his hospital room was restricted. Plain clothes security men, who insisted that Kibirige could talk, guarded his room and refused people to enter.

A notice on his hospital room door read: “Attention Please: No visitors allowed. Patient needs rest.”

Officers at Mulago said Kibirige was admitted on Monday morning “in a worrying condition.” They confirmed that he could talk.

Kibirige was rushed to the hospital after the Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, directed that he gets admitted.

This was after Bukenya paid him a private visit at his home at Kagoma, Namulonge in Wakiso on Sunday.

According to a press release issued by the Vice-President’s office, Bukenya described Kibirige’s condition as critical, but stable.

The press release said Bukenya first proposed to have a nurse stationed at Kibirige’s home before deciding that the minister be moved to the medical facility.

Kibirige’s family members told Bukenya that he had been recovering when he was hit by a bout of malaria two days before.

Kibirige had been at his home for about two months after he was brought back from a German hospital where he was taken in July.

Prior to being taken to Germany in a critical condition, he had been admitted in a South African hospital for over a month.

Ssebunya’s family said a doctor attended to him last week. A New Vision team that went to his home last week was unable to see him to establish his condition. His relatives said he had taken medication and was asleep.

Tongue cancer affects the mouth and oropharynx (the part of the throat behind the mouth). The main causes are smoking (cigarettes, cigars and the pipe) in addition to heavy drinking.

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