The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | When a doctor alerted her that all signs were showing she is progressing to pre-eclampsia, an expectant mother who spoke to URN on condition of anonymity went into panic mode. She knew that the condition is one of the biggest causes of maternal deaths in the country.
The disorder characterized by seizures and convulsions in a woman with high blood pressure in pregnancy is a potentially dangerous complication that often results in serious or even fatal difficulties for both mother and baby.
Her fears were worsened when she was told that magnesium sulphate, the drug that could stabilize her was out of stock. She had only 50,000 out of the 150, 000 Shillings needed to buy it from the private pharmacies around Kawempe National Referral Hospital where she is admitted.
The expectant mother who was referred to Kawempe from Komamboga health centre III said she would only be saved by the same doctor who sold her his own doses privately at 70,000 Shillings.
Like her, many patients battling pre-eclampsia have resorted to buying their own magnesium sulphate with a stock out at the hospital which is supposed to offer these drugs free of charge.
Their claims were validated by Dr Elizabeth Byakwaga, the Chief Resident Obstetrics and Gynaecology attached to the facility who said they haven’t had the drug for the last six weeks.
Dr Lawrence Kazibwe, the deputy director of the hospital said they are overwhelmed by numbers yet their budget for drugs has not increased. He said the hospital is designed to have a maximum of 15 mothers admitted in the pre-eclampsia ward but they often find themselves with up to 50 mothers many of them self- referrals.
He said they have seasonal variations in the numbers of patients that they receive. The lockdown break according to him could have expounded the problem because many mothers tend to get pregnant during holidays leading to a boom.
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