Nurse evicts pregnant women from Arua hospital

By Richard Drasimaku                               

THERE was outrage at Arua Hospital following the eviction of over 30 expectant mothers and their attendants by a nurse on Sunday night.

According to Rashida Ocokoru, an attendant to one of the pregnant mothers, the unidentified nurse arrived late and was incensed when the mothers asked why they had not been given pain killers.

Some of them had been admitted without medication since Saturday, she said.

Having thrown out the expectant mothers with their belongings, they spread their mats under a tree in front of the maternity ward where they slept.

One of the victims decided to call the police to come to their rescue.

Josephine Angucia, the West Nile police spokesperson said she received a desperate call from one of the expectant mothers well after 11:30pm.

Angucia said she went to the hospital immediately after receiving the call but realised that the matter was purely administrative.

“The nurse exhibited lack of customer care when sending out the pregnant women. One of the nurses was blaming the hospital management for not providing extra space for the maternity ward in the new storeyed building but that is not the fault of patients,” Angucia said. 

The Arua Hospital director Dr. Bernard Odu said he would first investigate what happened that night in the maternity ward before commenting. 

He said he arrived at the hospital from Kampala on Monday morning and was green about the weekend events.