After losing home in a fire, family now loses child

Jul 13, 2017

When Wafula's parents got to Masafu Hospital, they were told he needed blood transfusion.

Josephine Achieng and one of her five children, before they lost one of them. (Credit: Gloria Nakajubi)

HEALTH & DEATH


The cruel hand of tragedy has again struck a family in Buyuha, Busia district three weeks after losing their modest home in a fire.

Now, Alex Wanyama and Josephine Achieng's family has lost an even more important part of their lives: a son.

Six-year-old Glein Wafula succumbed to anaemia, a condition where one's body lacks enough red blood cells. He was one of three of Wanyama and Achieng's five children that have sickle cell disease.

He died early Wednesday at Masafu General Hospital four days after he was admitted to hospital.

Anaemia is one of the major conditions that affect people with sickle cell disease.

When Wafula's parents got to Masafu Hospital, they were told he needed blood transfusion because he was anaemic. However, there was no blood at the public health facility. This forced the couple to seek treatment at a private hospital.

"We were asked to pay sh85,000 before we could be attended to. We didn't have the money and returned home with our son," said Wanyama.

Their son's condition deteriorated and they rushed back to the government hospital. This time, they were lucky to find blood and Wafula had a transfusion.

The father however said that "he needed more blood but this was not available".

Dr Emmanuel Tusiime, the medical superintendent at the hospital, explained that the facility grapples with blood supplies and it's possible that they could have run out of stock.

"I saw the boy on Monday during the ward rounds and noticed he was not responding to medication as expected. I had to prescribe some other treatment. It's unfortunate that he didn't pull through," he said.

The hospital receives an average of 200 patients in the outpatients department. These check in from Busia (Uganda and Kenya), Namayingo and Tororo, among other areas.

According to Tusiime, they receive blood supplies from Mbale Regional Blood Bank. This is usually about 10-20 units per week, depending on the availability at the source.

Action Against Sickle Cell Disease has since carried out a campaign to raise support for the family. 

According to Ashiraf Sebandeke, the executive director of the organisation, they were able to take the family some items received from well-wishers. These included beddings, clothes, scholastic materials and some medicines.

Sebandeke is pictured with Wafula (RIP) the first time his organisation visited the family. (Credit: Gloria Nakajubi)


When they lost their family to an inferno, the desperate family's plight was highlighted in the New Vision last week, also calling for good Samaritans to help them in whichever way they could. They had been left with nothing other than the clothes they were wearing that fateful day.

The couple has been able to put up a temporary one-roomed shelter and by the time of the first visit two weeks ago, Sebandeke and his colleague found two of the children, including Wafula, in bed looking frail and ill. They had been covered up in sacks as beddings.

Exposure to cold air, wind, and water for people with sickle cell disease, according to experts, causes a painful crisis by making red blood cells in the exposed areas to shrink.

In Uganda a staggering 20,000 children are born with sickle cell disease, a trend that could be averted if couples tested before having children.

Sickle cell disease is inherited and people with this condition have their red blood cells abnormally shaped (in a sickle or crescent shape other than the flexible round shape) making them unable to carry adequate oxygen throughout your body.

 

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