Kawolo Hospital a death trap

Aug 27, 2010

SOWEDI Kakooza 54 pleaded for help on his bed in Kawolo Hospital, Buikwe district. He wanted an injection that would reduce the pain in his chest but the hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr. Joshua Kiberu, said they had run out of drugs including pain killers.

By John Semakula
SOWEDI Kakooza 54 pleaded for help on his bed in Kawolo Hospital, Buikwe district. He wanted an injection that would reduce the pain in his chest but the hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr. Joshua Kiberu, said they had run out of drugs including pain killers.

Kakooza had been rushed to the hospital following the recent grisly road accident that occurred near Nakibizi on the Kampala-Jinja highway that claimed 10 lives. He was among the three people including a teenage girl who were rushed to the hospital in a double-cabin pick-up truck by a good samaritan. Unfortunately the girl died shortly after reaching the hospital. Kiberu said she had a fractured neck and had died of internal bleeding. The other victim, Robert Isabirye, 38, a resident of katikamu Village in nama sub-county sustained a deep cut on his head. Kakooza had been injured in the chest but the hospital did not have films to perform an x-ray.

Kiberu said the only alternative was to transfer him to Mulago Hospital which had a better equipped causality ward.

Kawolo Hospital has an ambulance, but it could not transport Kakooza because it lacked fuel. Kiberu said he had contacted various petrol stations in Lugazi to lend the hospital fuel, without success.

The medical superindendent said despite the scarcity of drugs at the hospital, they had given Isabirye and others first aid. “We got the first aid drugs from the private wing.”

But after the first aid, the hospital could not treat them further. The victims had to dig into their pockets to foot the medical bills. However, that was not possible because they had been robbed of their belongings at the accident scene.

Isabirye says he had sh50,000 when the accident occurred. “The first group of people who arrived at the scene searched our pockets and took off with whatever we had,” he narrated.

He was lucky that the news of his involvement in the accident reached his relatives early and they rushed to the hospital and paid his medical bills.

A day after he was admitted, Isabirya’s family had already spent sh100,000 in medical bills. His wife, Grace Nayiga, said she borrowed part of the money from friends.

Dr. Kiberu said it was common for accident victims to get robbed.
Kawolo Hospital is located strategically on the Kampala-Jinja highway, that has various accidents. “We receive two accident victims every day,” Kiberu said

Yet it is more expensive to treat an accident victim than an ordinary patient. “One accident victim consumes the drugs of 10 patients suffering from primary diseases like malaria and worms,” he said.
The hospital receives medical supplies to cover the population in Buikwe, Mukono and Buvuma districts. However, they cannot turn away the highway accident victims. As a result, the hospital runs out of drugs in a very short period of time. “To be able to serve effectively, the hospital needs sh100m per month but we are given sh60m for three months,” Kiberu disclosed.

The other challenge is that the funds delay to reach the hospital. “Since the financial year started, we have not received any funds. But you can’t run a hospital without money,” he added

By the time Kakooza met his accident, the hospital had been without drugs for one month. Dr. Kiberu said he was tired of seeing people die because of lack of drugs. “I was trained to save lives which I can’t do in the absence of drugs.”

He explained that he had requested for drugs from the National Medical Stores a month earlier but no delivery had been made.
Kawolo Hospital gets 350 patients daily and the number goes up when drugs are available. When there are no drugs, doctors write prescriptions and patients buy the drugs from private pharmacies.

However, the in-charge of the National Medical Stores, Moses Namanya, denied that they delay to disburse drugs to the hospital. He said: “The problem with Kawolo is that the demand for drugs is high. Because the hospital is on a highway, they use the drugs we give them in a very short period of time.”

Namanya said he intends to propose that Kawolo is elevated to a referral hospital to be able to receive drugs once a month unlike now when it gets drugs every two months.
To add salt to injury, Kawolo Hospital has an electricity bill debt of sh36m. Dr. Kiberu said that they had received a warning from UMEME that anytime their power would be cut off. “My fear is that the day the power is disconnected we may lose lives.”

The hospital has a generator, but cannot afford the fuel. “We have already informed the district leaders about this problem and they have promised to give us sh10m,” Kiberu explained.
The scarcity of drugs at Kawolo Hospital is not only disturbing the technical team but also the politicians.

Buikwe LC5 vice-chairman Livingston Ziwa who is also the secretary for health said: “If Kawolo is elevated into a referral hospital, it will get more funds and specialists.”
The district also wants the Government to establish a trauma center at the hospital. “We have had six accidents in a week. The hospital can not handle the accident victims without a trauma center,” Ziwa said.

He disclosed that there were plans to recruit more staff for the hospital. Looking at the accident statistics, Ziwa has a point. Each year, Kawolo Hospital receives over 1000 accident victims. “This is an overwhelming number to the hospital,” he said. The hospital started operating in 1968.

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