Are our hospitals death chambers?
Jan 22, 2009
<b>Letter of the day</b><br><br>EDITOR—On December 14, 2008, my wife who was about seven months pregnant complained of a fever. Since she was to go for the next antenatal visit soon, we decided that she should go the very next day. At the hospital, t
Letter of the day
EDITOR—On December 14, 2008, my wife who was about seven months pregnant complained of a fever. Since she was to go for the next antenatal visit soon, we decided that she should go the very next day. At the hospital, the nurse on duty was not willing to do all the necessary tests because she was going away, we discovered later, so these checks were more of a delay to her.
“Scanning will be done on the next visit, she wrote on the antenatal cardâ€. Mark you, this is a private hospital! The pharmacists rescued us and sent the lady for a scan and the result was: No malaria, foetus viable and normal, expected delivery date, March 2009.
The following day, December 15, my wife realised the birth waters bursting on her and back to the same hospital we ran. From Saturday, 9:00pm we saw the doctor on duty at 9.00am on Sunday. The nurse on duty dumped the lady in pain on a bed near the labour suite and that was enough ‘treatment’ for her. She was not examined at all till 6:00am on Monday morning when she forced her way into the labour room. The nurse came out to announce to me that “the baby is dead, we cannot feel its heart beatâ€. Although I have no medical background, I did not believe her for there was no cause for the death of the foetus.
When the baby eventually came out at 8:00am, the nurse almost dumped the ‘thing’ into the bin had it not coughed! It was then dumped on the lesu the mother had rapped herself in as if there was no other cloth! No any other help was offered to the baby as if to condemn it to death! The doctor arrived after an hour and just looked on as if he needed to be taken back to the medical basics.
“Why don’t you put this kid in an incubator,â€I asked thhe doctor, only to be told that the wholeof Kisubi Missionary Hospital had nothing called an incubator! “Why then can’t you refer us to Mulago and we save our kid?â€, I asked. After minutes of no response the doctor wrote for us a referral letter to Mulago. Little did I know that wee were in for more shock! After preparing us for transit, the ambulance driver told us he could only be ready to move after an hour. Although I had a car, we could not move with the kid in our hands, leave alone the mother still in pain. After about one and a half hours later, the driver arrived and announced to us that we had to put fuel in the vehicle, which we did immediately.
The vehicle was no better than the small car we had because it had no oxygen facility at all! Anyway, we travelled to Mulago and the first question the receptionist asked us was why we had gone to a private hospital if we needed help. The nurse from Kisubi had just left the kid at the reception! The kid eventually breathed its last at about 4:00pm without any help given to it! Are our hospitals death chambers—even the private ones?
Peter Isabirye
Entebbe
EDITOR—On December 14, 2008, my wife who was about seven months pregnant complained of a fever. Since she was to go for the next antenatal visit soon, we decided that she should go the very next day. At the hospital, the nurse on duty was not willing to do all the necessary tests because she was going away, we discovered later, so these checks were more of a delay to her.
“Scanning will be done on the next visit, she wrote on the antenatal cardâ€. Mark you, this is a private hospital! The pharmacists rescued us and sent the lady for a scan and the result was: No malaria, foetus viable and normal, expected delivery date, March 2009.
The following day, December 15, my wife realised the birth waters bursting on her and back to the same hospital we ran. From Saturday, 9:00pm we saw the doctor on duty at 9.00am on Sunday. The nurse on duty dumped the lady in pain on a bed near the labour suite and that was enough ‘treatment’ for her. She was not examined at all till 6:00am on Monday morning when she forced her way into the labour room. The nurse came out to announce to me that “the baby is dead, we cannot feel its heart beatâ€. Although I have no medical background, I did not believe her for there was no cause for the death of the foetus.
When the baby eventually came out at 8:00am, the nurse almost dumped the ‘thing’ into the bin had it not coughed! It was then dumped on the lesu the mother had rapped herself in as if there was no other cloth! No any other help was offered to the baby as if to condemn it to death! The doctor arrived after an hour and just looked on as if he needed to be taken back to the medical basics.
“Why don’t you put this kid in an incubator,â€I asked thhe doctor, only to be told that the wholeof Kisubi Missionary Hospital had nothing called an incubator! “Why then can’t you refer us to Mulago and we save our kid?â€, I asked. After minutes of no response the doctor wrote for us a referral letter to Mulago. Little did I know that wee were in for more shock! After preparing us for transit, the ambulance driver told us he could only be ready to move after an hour. Although I had a car, we could not move with the kid in our hands, leave alone the mother still in pain. After about one and a half hours later, the driver arrived and announced to us that we had to put fuel in the vehicle, which we did immediately.
The vehicle was no better than the small car we had because it had no oxygen facility at all! Anyway, we travelled to Mulago and the first question the receptionist asked us was why we had gone to a private hospital if we needed help. The nurse from Kisubi had just left the kid at the reception! The kid eventually breathed its last at about 4:00pm without any help given to it! Are our hospitals death chambers—even the private ones?
Peter Isabirye
Entebbe