Eleven die as Lira hospital medics strike
Feb 10, 2008
THE sick and dead lay side-by-side in the wards of Lira Referral hospital as the strike of the medical staff entered its sixth day yesterday. Pregnant women in the maternity ward were assisting each other to deliver as no nurse had reported all day.
By John Omoding,
Ali Mao in Lira
and Anne Mugisa
THE sick and dead lay side-by-side in the wards of Lira Referral hospital as the strike of the medical staff entered its sixth day yesterday. Pregnant women in the maternity ward were assisting each other to deliver as no nurse had reported all day.
Concerned relatives thronged the hospital to remove sick relatives. Only one child remained in the pediatric ward when The New Vision visited last night.
The mood at the hospital was sombre as desperate patients clung to their beds, especially those in the casualty ward, while others crowded on the verandas, helplessly looking for treatment.
The Lira resident district commissioner, Joan Pacoto, described the strike as illegal and criminal.
“We don’t know about this strike because the hospital officials did not communicate to us formally. Several people have called our office to report that relatives had lost their lives as a result,†she told The New Vision.
“On Thursday, I saw three bodies and seven empty beds in the maternity ward, whose former occupants I was told were pregnant mothers who had died due to negligence. More bodies were lying in the wards on Friday.â€
Between 11 and 15 people are believed to have died as a result of the strike. Most affected were pregnant mothers. One of the patients, a man identified as Jenesio Idonga, died as disaster preparedness minister Musa Ecweru visited the hospital on Friday.
“The situation is pathetic and very ugly,†Ecweru told The New Vision,/i> yesterday.
“Bodies of two days old were decomposing in their beds. I had to personally have them removed. Apart from some cleaners, we did not find anybody.â€
The minister tried in vain to mobilise medical staff but he only managed to find a secretary to open the office of the medical superintendent.
A skeleton staff is supposed to look after the patients in case of a hospital strike, noted RDC Pacoto. “But I was shocked to learn that some of the medical officials came to treat only their patients or relatives. Worse, I am told they even chased away student nurses who were trying to give a helping hand to the abandoned patients and grabbed the medicines from them.â€
The medical superintendent, Dr. Jane Aceng Ochero, put the death toll at six.
“It is true that six people died. Four died from the female ward, one from the surgical male ward and the other one from the male ward,†she said.
The staff went on strike, claiming that their risk allowance, approved by the Government last year, had not been paid for six months.
The Ministry of Health and UNICEF had promised them a 30% increment for working in insurgency areas, the medical workers said.
“It is unfortunate that Lira district got the 30% increment in September 2007 and started paying the Health Centres II and III but Lira Referral Hospital staff where not paid in time. This prompted the health workers to go on a sit-down protest,†said Dr. Aceng.
But the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Emmanuel Otaala, yesterday called the striking health workers unreasonable.
He explained that the staff had demanded to be paid a settling allowance, similar to the one given to health workers who accepted to settle in rural areas that had been destabilised by the LRA.
“We negotiated with the British Department for International Development (DFID) and they accepted to provide additional funding,†Otaala said.
“We were in the process of calculating their salaries to forward the amount to DFID so that funding could be effected. But we were disappointed to hear that these people had gone on strike.â€
A team of officials from the ministry would travel to the hospital today to persuade the staff to return to work as their pay was being looked into, he added.
Ali Mao in Lira
and Anne Mugisa
THE sick and dead lay side-by-side in the wards of Lira Referral hospital as the strike of the medical staff entered its sixth day yesterday. Pregnant women in the maternity ward were assisting each other to deliver as no nurse had reported all day.
Concerned relatives thronged the hospital to remove sick relatives. Only one child remained in the pediatric ward when The New Vision visited last night.
The mood at the hospital was sombre as desperate patients clung to their beds, especially those in the casualty ward, while others crowded on the verandas, helplessly looking for treatment.
The Lira resident district commissioner, Joan Pacoto, described the strike as illegal and criminal.
“We don’t know about this strike because the hospital officials did not communicate to us formally. Several people have called our office to report that relatives had lost their lives as a result,†she told The New Vision.
“On Thursday, I saw three bodies and seven empty beds in the maternity ward, whose former occupants I was told were pregnant mothers who had died due to negligence. More bodies were lying in the wards on Friday.â€
Between 11 and 15 people are believed to have died as a result of the strike. Most affected were pregnant mothers. One of the patients, a man identified as Jenesio Idonga, died as disaster preparedness minister Musa Ecweru visited the hospital on Friday.
“The situation is pathetic and very ugly,†Ecweru told The New Vision,/i> yesterday.
“Bodies of two days old were decomposing in their beds. I had to personally have them removed. Apart from some cleaners, we did not find anybody.â€
The minister tried in vain to mobilise medical staff but he only managed to find a secretary to open the office of the medical superintendent.
A skeleton staff is supposed to look after the patients in case of a hospital strike, noted RDC Pacoto. “But I was shocked to learn that some of the medical officials came to treat only their patients or relatives. Worse, I am told they even chased away student nurses who were trying to give a helping hand to the abandoned patients and grabbed the medicines from them.â€
The medical superintendent, Dr. Jane Aceng Ochero, put the death toll at six.
“It is true that six people died. Four died from the female ward, one from the surgical male ward and the other one from the male ward,†she said.
The staff went on strike, claiming that their risk allowance, approved by the Government last year, had not been paid for six months.
The Ministry of Health and UNICEF had promised them a 30% increment for working in insurgency areas, the medical workers said.
“It is unfortunate that Lira district got the 30% increment in September 2007 and started paying the Health Centres II and III but Lira Referral Hospital staff where not paid in time. This prompted the health workers to go on a sit-down protest,†said Dr. Aceng.
But the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Emmanuel Otaala, yesterday called the striking health workers unreasonable.
He explained that the staff had demanded to be paid a settling allowance, similar to the one given to health workers who accepted to settle in rural areas that had been destabilised by the LRA.
“We negotiated with the British Department for International Development (DFID) and they accepted to provide additional funding,†Otaala said.
“We were in the process of calculating their salaries to forward the amount to DFID so that funding could be effected. But we were disappointed to hear that these people had gone on strike.â€
A team of officials from the ministry would travel to the hospital today to persuade the staff to return to work as their pay was being looked into, he added.