Fake doctor makes child lose buttock
Jun 15, 2010
A four-year-old girl is nursing rotten buttocks after receiving injections from quack doctors to treat a fever.
By Tom Gwebayanga
A four-year-old girl is nursing rotten buttocks after receiving injections from quack doctors to treat a fever.
For two months, Immaculate Nanyonjo has been sleeping on her belly and cannot sit up after most of her left buttock was cut off, leaving a gaping wound.
“The wound is turning septic. It’s threatening the bone as it gets bigger and deeper. I hope it does not become cancerous,†the Buyende district councillor, Aisha Kanaku, said during her visit to the family on Sunday.
Nanyonjo is a daughter to Stephen Muzaale and Elizabeth Nabutono of Kiribairya village. Her woes started after she was taken to three private clinics where she got a number of injections. She then developed boils on the buttocks, which developed pus.
Nanyonjo and her eight other siblings were under the care of their 80-year-old grandmother after their mother separated from her husband in 2008. The father stays with a second wife in a separate home.
The grandmother, Kotirida Ikesa, told the councillor that the child got some injections at a nearby clinic, but her condition worsened, forcing her to take her to two other “doctors†who operate drug shops. The child got more injections, which caused more boils.
The girl was then taken to Kamuli Hospital, where a medical doctor performed surgery to cut away the rotten part. Thereafter, Nanyonjo was referred to Mulago Hospital in Kampala for further treatment.
“We paid sh200,000 for the treatment at Kamuli. We have run out of money and cannot go to Mulago. Instead, I apply local herbs of burnt fish bones mixed with Mvule tree sap,†said Nabutono, the mother, who was nursing the child.
Nabutono said her estranged husband has vowed not to spend a penny on “wounds that never healâ€.
“I have no income and my child will eventually die,†lamented Nabutono, who has since returned to her marital home to look after the child.
Buyende district medical officer Dr. Aggrey Batesaaki said the quack doctors must have used expired drugs or lacked experience. He said the wound could heal if the child gets more professional attention.
According to a recent report by the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, unskilled private health providers highly contribute to the increasing number of disabled children In Uganda. In most cases, children are disabled after being injected with wrong drugs.
“Health providers, who in most cases do not have the necessary skills, use injectable quinine, which is required for severe malaria, resulting into many disabled children,†the report said.
Over 80 children, it added, were reported disabled in 2008 and over 100 in 2009.
The report also quoted the Uganda National Household Survey 2005/06, which revealed that the major causes of disability were diseases and infections.
According to Josephine Kankunda, a researcher, there are 2.8 million people with disabilities in Uganda, which is about 10% of country’s population.
Recently, Saturday Vision published another case of a four-year-old boy in Seeta who was maimed and turned blind after taking anti-malarial medicines.
Jesse Serumaga developed extensive soars and inflammation of the skin and eyes. Doctors said he might lose his sight in one of the eyes.
A four-year-old girl is nursing rotten buttocks after receiving injections from quack doctors to treat a fever.
For two months, Immaculate Nanyonjo has been sleeping on her belly and cannot sit up after most of her left buttock was cut off, leaving a gaping wound.
“The wound is turning septic. It’s threatening the bone as it gets bigger and deeper. I hope it does not become cancerous,†the Buyende district councillor, Aisha Kanaku, said during her visit to the family on Sunday.
Nanyonjo is a daughter to Stephen Muzaale and Elizabeth Nabutono of Kiribairya village. Her woes started after she was taken to three private clinics where she got a number of injections. She then developed boils on the buttocks, which developed pus.
Nanyonjo and her eight other siblings were under the care of their 80-year-old grandmother after their mother separated from her husband in 2008. The father stays with a second wife in a separate home.
The grandmother, Kotirida Ikesa, told the councillor that the child got some injections at a nearby clinic, but her condition worsened, forcing her to take her to two other “doctors†who operate drug shops. The child got more injections, which caused more boils.
The girl was then taken to Kamuli Hospital, where a medical doctor performed surgery to cut away the rotten part. Thereafter, Nanyonjo was referred to Mulago Hospital in Kampala for further treatment.
“We paid sh200,000 for the treatment at Kamuli. We have run out of money and cannot go to Mulago. Instead, I apply local herbs of burnt fish bones mixed with Mvule tree sap,†said Nabutono, the mother, who was nursing the child.
Nabutono said her estranged husband has vowed not to spend a penny on “wounds that never healâ€.
“I have no income and my child will eventually die,†lamented Nabutono, who has since returned to her marital home to look after the child.
Buyende district medical officer Dr. Aggrey Batesaaki said the quack doctors must have used expired drugs or lacked experience. He said the wound could heal if the child gets more professional attention.
According to a recent report by the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, unskilled private health providers highly contribute to the increasing number of disabled children In Uganda. In most cases, children are disabled after being injected with wrong drugs.
“Health providers, who in most cases do not have the necessary skills, use injectable quinine, which is required for severe malaria, resulting into many disabled children,†the report said.
Over 80 children, it added, were reported disabled in 2008 and over 100 in 2009.
The report also quoted the Uganda National Household Survey 2005/06, which revealed that the major causes of disability were diseases and infections.
According to Josephine Kankunda, a researcher, there are 2.8 million people with disabilities in Uganda, which is about 10% of country’s population.
Recently, Saturday Vision published another case of a four-year-old boy in Seeta who was maimed and turned blind after taking anti-malarial medicines.
Jesse Serumaga developed extensive soars and inflammation of the skin and eyes. Doctors said he might lose his sight in one of the eyes.