Living the doctor’s life

Medicine is wide, what is your area of speciality?
I would have to do my masters first in order to specialise. As of now, I am a general practitioner but when the time comes, I will do paediatrics. The field has come a long way and child healthcare is something I am passionate about.

Did you end up in medicine for prestige or real passion?
The love for it did not come initially because it was accountants that I admired. Later on during my school times, I grew fond of science subjects and as time went on, I received career guidance at school and my parents telling me how I would make a good doctor.
Eventually, I was introduced into that line but looking back, I would not change a thing of what I am right now.

And what is home care about?
It is the provision of medical services to patients in their places of convenience.
We are bringing back the practice of doctors going to see people in their homes like it was before so many clinics were put up and we are able to do more than in the past. We are currently operating in Kampala, Wakiso, Mpigi and Mukono.

How does home care work?
A client calls and gives a brief description on the problem and location. When the doctor gets there, he examines the patient, takes samples if necessary and draws a treatment plan for them to follow.

Tell me of an emergency situation you faced and how you handled it.
I got this call from a lady in her mid-20s. She told me she was pregnant and was having mild abdominal pain and a backache.
At that time we thought it was a simple infection but upon getting there and assessing her, we realised she was on the verge of delivering with her cervix 9cm dilated.
Realising she may not make it to hospital, I had to make all possible arrangements to have her deliver at home. This being her first baby, it was a hustle convincing her that she had to deliver that way.
Fortunately, I managed to save her and the baby although it is not something we had planned.

What are some of the challenges in this venture?
Some places are hard to reach due to the roads yet we deal with emergency situations. This being the case, we always devise means of getting to the clients for example boarding a boda boda which is quite expensive to keep up with.

What do you like most about your job?
What makes me happy is being somewhere and a person recognises you and they are like “Doctor, thank you a lot, I can never forget you” yet you don’t even remember them.
It makes me know how positive I impact people. The diabetic lady I treated also gave me a cow for Christmas when she got better.
If you headed the health ministry, where would you focus your efforts?
I would see to it that medical practitioners are paid a reasonable salary and on time. Quite a number of them I have interfaced with on several levels confess that their salaries come three or more months later. This is the major cause of the day to day strikes of the medical workers which lead to high death rates in public hospitals. Even when the strikes are genuine, they are punished. I would work out a way to see this coming to an end since the health sector is very fundamental in a country.

What aspect of health is most neglected?
Nowadays, one of the biggest issues is our eating habits. People do not pay so much attention to what and when they eat or how much carbohydrates, vitamins or protein content are in their meals. I think we really need to do a lot of sensitisation in regard to nutrition most of the diseases we are treating lately are nutrition based and can be avoided.

Are you married?
Not yet. I want to take my time before rushing in this.

Is it because you fear commitment?
Not really, I just feel that marriage is a big deal and there is a lot of work one has to do to live up to this commitment. People take marriage lightly which should not be the case. I know time will come and I will get married.

And who would be that ideal woman?
Much as we do not dictate where love comes from, intelligent, able to challenge me and funny because I love to laugh.

What was your dream career?
I wanted to be an accountant because I grew up admiring two uncles of mine who were accountants and had a lot of money.

What is the special thing that you think people do not know about you?
Nothing really. I’m an open book, what you see is what you get. I’m not secretive like most people are. Also, being a doctor calls for open mindedness.

Next best option
What would you be doing if you were not treating people?
I love music and I seriously think I would make a good music director. I would also want to be a stock broker because it makes you be up to date and on your toes all the time, I like planning new things.