Last week’s tragic news of the death of Belinda Birungi, who had graduated from UCU in July, left everyone in shock.
Latest revelations from Rose Bossa, mother to the deceased and wife to State Minister for Lands Dr. Sam Mayanja on Monday morning moved mourners to tears and angry murmurs when she revealed what she went through on Friday as she struggled to save the life of her 23-year-old daughter Belinda.
Apparently, when Belinda was rushed to Uganda-China Friendship Hospital in Naguru, Ms. Bossa received a phone call and then demanded to speak to her daughter but the doctor hesitated passing on the phone.
“But I would hear my daughter crying and agonizing in the background because, as I later on established, she was in too much pain,” she remarked at the funeral.
The medical team at the hospital had initially told Ms Bossa that her daughter was lucky.
“She is out of danger and is going to be a survivor to testify about God’s goodness. They kept saying she must be a very prayerful girl [which she was at the priests testified at the Church service].”
The hope later started to fade as unfortunate events unfolded upon reaching the hospital.
The mother painted a picture and narrated what she found inside the hospital room:
“I found my daughter lying there. My Belinda couldn’t say anything and I’m not sure if she even recognized me but I thanked God she was breathing very well and they said she is going to be okay. They told her mummy is here and she was only gesturing with her eyes unable to say anything intelligible. The phone of her rider, who died on spot, was there in her bag and I thank those Good Samaritans who did their best to rush her to hospital,” she painfully narrated.
There was much more medics could have done but didn’t do to save Belinda’s life.
“They assured me she isn’t badly off except that she had pain which needed to be managed. They said we need panadols which I had to go and buy myself.”
To the mother’s dismay, there wasn’t much that had been done to the girl who initially was coherent and talking well to the extent that she was able to ask them to ring her mum.
Allegedly, the attendants had made the girl lie down on a bed inside what the mother was told was an emergency room. They even had to argue about the right position in which she had to lie on the bed.
“She kept signalling that she was having too much pain in the back and that’s how they started arguing on the right position she was supposed to be resting in as they arranged to administer some drips which they said would help her to stabilize to the original state. The nurses kept insisting they had already cleaned her but my daughter was so dirty because of the accident effect and even her trousers were torn and we had to cut everything to be able to remove the trousers. They would say they cleaned her already but my daughter was very dirty and full on mud the way she had been delivered from the accident scene,” she revealed while sobbing.
Worse still, she had to clean her own patient as the very indifferent medics looked on before one of them subsequently told her, “ma’am that’s how things are in this place.”
The agonizing evening became worse when the idea to stitch the deep wound her daughter had contracted on the eye only came to be considered after she repeatedly inquired about the same.
It was then that one of the nurses reluctantly said “ooh by the way we need to do some stitching for that wound.”
“There was no one to help her [the nurse] on that and she had just reported for that night shift. I held up my daughter as the stitching was being carried out. I didn’t know what to exactly do but the good thing I had some emotional support from some of my sisters who live abroad because I had posted on the family WhatsApp forum that Belinda has got an accident.”
Reportedly, after the stitching, she was put on some drip whose contents the mother didn’t even know.
“They assured me this would give her sleeping stability and also calm down the pain she was experiencing. The good thing her whole body was intact and once they assured me there was nothing to worry about, I said let me rush home to organize and bring some beddings because it was now clear we were spending a night there. I planned to sleep in my car praying.”
The grieving mother also revealed the circumstances under which the team of clearly very indifferent medics came to refer to the need to do some scans and x-ray to ensure the young girl hadn’t fractured her internal parts like the brain etc.
“They said for now let’s manage the pain and stabilize her as we plan to do the scan tomorrow which would be Saturday or the day after. I asked them why not now and they said it’s only done in Mulago. I then asked them don’t we have other places and they said Mulago was advisable because it’s a bit cheaper for many people.”
Belinda’s mother regrettably trusted their word, as she opted to wait for Saturday as advised, and decided to leave the hospital.
The following hours marked a really dark hour in the family’s lives.
Ms. Bossa’s brother, Tony stayed on the watch until Belinda’s 11th hour.
He waited for her sister to return to the hospital and on arrival, while in the parking, he went to her, held her firmly before revealing that “Belinda hasn’t made it.”
More trauma was to befall the already broken mother because of the rudeness with which the hospital staff communicated what had to happen next.
“They casually told me we don’t release bodies at night and that’s our policy here at Naguru. They said go to your home and return tomorrow at 9am after we have carried out the necessary consultations with the one supposed to authorize the release of the body. It was very painful and I didn’t know what to do and asked God to provide the way,” Belinda’s mother wept endlessly.
The horrifying experience was really a hard-pill to swallow for Belinda’s parents who believe that perhaps a better health provider could have saved their daughter’s life.
May her soul continue resting in peace.
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