Sick girl sleeps in the open for three weeks at Mukono hospital

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A girl whose age is estimated between 10 and 15 years suffering from cerebral palsy has now spent three weeks sleeping on a veranda at Mukono General Hospital due to lack of facilities to accommodate her given her health condition.

According to the hospital management, she was dropped at the facility by a boda boda rider who claimed he was going back to the girl’s home to pick the caretaker but until now has never returned.

The facility acting administrator Fred Wademe says they are currently stuck with the girl and she requires tight supervision given her health condition that involves defecating and urinating anywhere causing inconvenience to other clients in the female ward.

Wademe says the girl was examined at Butabika and discovered that she has no forms of psychiatric disorders but cerebral palsy changes. She has difficulty in talking nor can she use signs for one to help trace her origin.

The homeless girl wraps herself in a small old tarpaulin every night to beat the cold. Mary Namakula, a janitor at the hospital who feeds her appeals to any organization with the ability to care for such persons to offer her a new living.

The hospital does not have children’s wards for either girls and boys, and whenever in-patient admissions are required, they are instead admitted at the adults wards.

According to Wademe, the facility has always been challenged handling such cases since they lack special arrangement for them. He notes that they have always received other children with similar challenges but they have had care givers.

He notes that they are planning to create space for such purposes at the facility after the completion of the new building under construction.

The facility was elevated by the Ministry of Health to the level of a general hospital from health center IV last year in July to start handling cases that require specialised and advanced medical attention due to the increased number of patients flocking the facility.

In the year 2019/2020, the facility registered 12,063 admissions, 27, 310 outpatients and  8,199 deliveries.

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