Luwero mother stuck in hospital for months over bills

Jun 02, 2017

The 20-year-old’s medical bills amounted to sh495,000 after she delivered twins late last year.

PIC: Stella Adongo is stranded in hospital with her five-month-old twins. (Credit: Frederick Kiwanuka)

HEALTH


LUWERO - A young mother of twins has been stranded in a Luwero hospital since December last year over failure to pay medical bills.

Bishop Caeser Asili Memorial Hospital says they have tried to contact Stella Adongo's family but with no success.

The 20-year-old's medical bills amounted to sh495,000 after she delivered twins by Caesarean Section on December 21, 2016 at the health facility.

A resident of Kizito zone in Luwero town, Adongo was referred to the hospital for the delivery and when the time came to discharge her (three days later), she failed to clear the medical expenses.

As such, the hospital's administrators retained her in the maternity ward where she has been for five months now together with her babies.

Ronnie Musoni, the chief operations officer of the facility, says the hospital administration tried to contact Adongo's husband but his phone line was off. It is understood he is a charcoal burner.

The hospital then tried to reach Adongo's relatives in Gulu but they reportedly disowned her, saying she had eloped with a man they had not approved of.

Adongo is stuck with her twins but the hospital is unrelenting.

Musoni says the hospital is determined to recover Adongo's medical bill, which he describes as "minimum".

"Here we charge only the minimum. Elsewhere, she would have been charged over sh1m."

He adds that the health facility is ready to transport Andongo to any known relative(s) but only after the bill has been cleared.

Adongo says she met her husband in Gulu in January last year. He had gone there to burn charcoal. The couple later moved to Luwero where they have been living together.

She delivered the day after being checked into the hospital. She has since been surviving on offers from good Samaritans, she says.

A nurse in the maternity ward who asked not to be named says Adongo's babies are healthy but she (Adongo) has two big fibroids for which she needs an operation.

(For any form of support, Adongo can be reached on phone: 077890399)

 

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