The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Shock gripped UPDF officers and and people at Arua regional referral hospital on Saturday afternoon after the body of a baby was discovered dumped in the hospital compound behind a ward.
The body of the baby suspected to be one-week old, was discovered during a cleaning exercise by a group of the UPDF officers who were participating in a corporate activity to mark the 39th anniversary of Tarehe Sita.
“As our officers were picking up pieces of rubbish around the wards, one of them landed on a black polythene bag and on checking, it was the body of a decomposing body of a baby,” one of the junior UPDF officers told URN.
It’s not clear as to who dumped the baby but sources within the hospital intimated it was dumped by a patient at night behind the female ward. The polythene bag containing the body was later handed over to the health workers present for further management.
Colonel Jackson Kayanja, the 409 brigade commander who commanded the officers during the exercise, warned of a curse on the young girls who he said go into unplanned, unwanted and early pregnancy and end up doing inhuman acts to their new born babies.
A health worker who declined to be named said it’s often difficult to monitor what patients and their attendants do at night since the health workers do not stay around all the time. This is the first time a dumped baby is discovered in the hospital.
A week ago, a newly born baby was found dumped in a pit latrine by passers-by in a pit in River Oli division. It was later retrieved and is being taken care of by good Samaritan health workers in Arua town.
******
URN
