Injections- My baby needed a cure, he got wounds, pain.
Jan 18, 2009
WHEN we receive treatment, we expect a cure. However, this is not always the case as one-year-old Michael Mugwaya’s condition shows. When he fell sick in December last year, Mugwaya’s parents took him to the nearest health facility, but he ended up in
By Irene Nabusoba & Ben Okiror
WHEN we receive treatment, we expect a cure. However, this is not always the case as one-year-old Michael Mugwaya’s condition shows. When he fell sick in December last year, Mugwaya’s parents took him to the nearest health facility, but he ended up in more pain.
The little boy was given quinine injections but the injection site turned septic and, according to medical experts, the boy may end up deformed.
His parents, Geoffrey Kibwami and Oliver Bukirwa of Nansana, who came to The New Vision offices in search of financial help, blame their son’s deteriorating condition on the “unqualified†nurse who attended to them.
How it started
“My baby developed a high fever at about 6:00pm. I took him to the health facility, and the nurse, Fatuma Nanyonga, said he had malaria. She asked me to bring him back the next morning for quinine injections,†Bukirwa narrates painfully.
“He was given three injections that morning. Nanyonga explained that one was quinine, another was for lowering the high temperature and the last one for cough. She charged us sh20,000.
As the interview progresses, there is no more pain in Bukirwa’s voice. It is her constant glances at her baby that help you feel her emotion.
She constantly shakes him and explains that the movements help comfort the weak boy, who can hardly cry anymore. He makes weak sounds, like he is tired of crying and is breathing his last.
The little boy’s pain
Wrapped in a cotton sheet with a shawl, the once-healthy baby now has sagging skin and rotting flesh. The mother un-wraps him to show gaping holes on the buttocks, back and stomach.
“My baby is practically rotting alive,†Bukirwa says, bursting into tears. Her husband, Kibwami, who has been silent, reaches out to touch her.
She resumes her narration: “After the three injections, Michael’s body started swelling. I returned to the clinic in the afternoon and the nurse re-assured me that he would be fine.
She advised me to massage the area and gave him another quinine injection, another in the evening and three more the next morning. On the second day, I noticed that the first injection site looked like a burn.
On the third day, the thighs and legs had also swollen and the boy’s health was getting worse,†she recounts.
Condition worsens
Bukirwa continued massaging the baby, but as the swellings grew bigger and even turned black, the mother of two decided to seek help elsewhere. At Namungoona Orthodox Hospital, the child was given a glucose injection because he was weak.
Although the doctor advised them to go home, the mother insisted the boy’s condition was too bad to ignore and he consequently recommended a drip. They later left the hospital because of financial constraints.
They tried another clinic where the boy was given syrups and a tube of ointment to smear on the wounds.
The Police takes over
However, after noticing no change in their baby, Bukirwa and Kibwami reported to the Police. “I reported to John Ndugutse, the commandant of the Police professional standards unit, who asked the Kawempe Police Station to look into the matter.
“The Kawempe Police contacted their Nansana colleagues who arrested Nanyonga on December 24, after seeing the boy’s condition,†Kibwami chips in.
“Nanyonga called a doctor whom she referred to as Dr. Lubwama.
He asked us to withdraw the case, saying they would meet the costs of the baby’s treatment in Rubaga Hospital. I accepted and Nanyonga was released and we were admitted in Rubaga on Christmas Day,†he adds.
The boy received a blood transfusion and was put on another drip. Nanyonga kept visiting the hospital for one week and paid about sh137,000, before disappearing on New Year’s Day.
“The doctors said they needed to do surgery which could cost us about sh1.5m which I do not have,†Kibwami says.
He says he tried to find Nanyonga in vain. “It is while I was inquiring about her whereabouts that I learnt that she had been blacklisted and her clinic closed by the authorities.
People say many kids have died in her care and that she was not qualified,†he reveals.“My boy was walking, but since he was given those injections, this leg has practically died,†Kibwami says pointing at one leg. “The doctors say he will be fine but I do not know if he will walk again.â€
As if the baby is listening to the discussion, he cries, this time loudly. As she puts him to the breast, Bukirwa says: “This is his only food now. Before long, I could be treating malnutrition as well.
He cannot eat food, yet because I am stressed the breast milk is insufficient. Please help me treat my son,†she pleads.
We advise her to try Mulago Hospital but she is sceptical. “Even the doctors in Rubaga referred us to Mulago. But what if they also ask for money? Our backs are against the wall.
A young girl, a neighbour has been helping Kibwami and his wife with transport. She also advised the couple to come to The New Vision and is their translator. “They cannot bathe him,†the girl chips in.
“It is the nurses in Rubaga who have been doing it. They used to do it three times a day but reduced it to once a day saying they had run out of gauze. They have not changed him for three days now. That is why he is smelling.â€
What the experts say
Dr. Kenya-Mugisha, the director of clinical services in the Ministry Of Health, believes Muwaya’s case was caused by undiluted quinine, administered by an untrained person, on a wrong site.
“We cannot intervene because it is a court case. It is criminal to operate with no licence. You endanger people’s lives,†he says.
WHEN we receive treatment, we expect a cure. However, this is not always the case as one-year-old Michael Mugwaya’s condition shows. When he fell sick in December last year, Mugwaya’s parents took him to the nearest health facility, but he ended up in more pain.
The little boy was given quinine injections but the injection site turned septic and, according to medical experts, the boy may end up deformed.
His parents, Geoffrey Kibwami and Oliver Bukirwa of Nansana, who came to The New Vision offices in search of financial help, blame their son’s deteriorating condition on the “unqualified†nurse who attended to them.
How it started
“My baby developed a high fever at about 6:00pm. I took him to the health facility, and the nurse, Fatuma Nanyonga, said he had malaria. She asked me to bring him back the next morning for quinine injections,†Bukirwa narrates painfully.
“He was given three injections that morning. Nanyonga explained that one was quinine, another was for lowering the high temperature and the last one for cough. She charged us sh20,000.
As the interview progresses, there is no more pain in Bukirwa’s voice. It is her constant glances at her baby that help you feel her emotion.
She constantly shakes him and explains that the movements help comfort the weak boy, who can hardly cry anymore. He makes weak sounds, like he is tired of crying and is breathing his last.
The little boy’s pain
Wrapped in a cotton sheet with a shawl, the once-healthy baby now has sagging skin and rotting flesh. The mother un-wraps him to show gaping holes on the buttocks, back and stomach.
“My baby is practically rotting alive,†Bukirwa says, bursting into tears. Her husband, Kibwami, who has been silent, reaches out to touch her.
She resumes her narration: “After the three injections, Michael’s body started swelling. I returned to the clinic in the afternoon and the nurse re-assured me that he would be fine.
She advised me to massage the area and gave him another quinine injection, another in the evening and three more the next morning. On the second day, I noticed that the first injection site looked like a burn.
On the third day, the thighs and legs had also swollen and the boy’s health was getting worse,†she recounts.
Condition worsens
Bukirwa continued massaging the baby, but as the swellings grew bigger and even turned black, the mother of two decided to seek help elsewhere. At Namungoona Orthodox Hospital, the child was given a glucose injection because he was weak.
Although the doctor advised them to go home, the mother insisted the boy’s condition was too bad to ignore and he consequently recommended a drip. They later left the hospital because of financial constraints.
They tried another clinic where the boy was given syrups and a tube of ointment to smear on the wounds.
The Police takes over
However, after noticing no change in their baby, Bukirwa and Kibwami reported to the Police. “I reported to John Ndugutse, the commandant of the Police professional standards unit, who asked the Kawempe Police Station to look into the matter.
“The Kawempe Police contacted their Nansana colleagues who arrested Nanyonga on December 24, after seeing the boy’s condition,†Kibwami chips in.
“Nanyonga called a doctor whom she referred to as Dr. Lubwama.
He asked us to withdraw the case, saying they would meet the costs of the baby’s treatment in Rubaga Hospital. I accepted and Nanyonga was released and we were admitted in Rubaga on Christmas Day,†he adds.
The boy received a blood transfusion and was put on another drip. Nanyonga kept visiting the hospital for one week and paid about sh137,000, before disappearing on New Year’s Day.
“The doctors said they needed to do surgery which could cost us about sh1.5m which I do not have,†Kibwami says.
He says he tried to find Nanyonga in vain. “It is while I was inquiring about her whereabouts that I learnt that she had been blacklisted and her clinic closed by the authorities.
People say many kids have died in her care and that she was not qualified,†he reveals.“My boy was walking, but since he was given those injections, this leg has practically died,†Kibwami says pointing at one leg. “The doctors say he will be fine but I do not know if he will walk again.â€
As if the baby is listening to the discussion, he cries, this time loudly. As she puts him to the breast, Bukirwa says: “This is his only food now. Before long, I could be treating malnutrition as well.
He cannot eat food, yet because I am stressed the breast milk is insufficient. Please help me treat my son,†she pleads.
We advise her to try Mulago Hospital but she is sceptical. “Even the doctors in Rubaga referred us to Mulago. But what if they also ask for money? Our backs are against the wall.
A young girl, a neighbour has been helping Kibwami and his wife with transport. She also advised the couple to come to The New Vision and is their translator. “They cannot bathe him,†the girl chips in.
“It is the nurses in Rubaga who have been doing it. They used to do it three times a day but reduced it to once a day saying they had run out of gauze. They have not changed him for three days now. That is why he is smelling.â€
What the experts say
Dr. Kenya-Mugisha, the director of clinical services in the Ministry Of Health, believes Muwaya’s case was caused by undiluted quinine, administered by an untrained person, on a wrong site.
“We cannot intervene because it is a court case. It is criminal to operate with no licence. You endanger people’s lives,†he says.