Paralysed boy left helpless after accident
A cement truck left Brian Okware paralysed. He needs financial help to be able to get medical care. photo by Paul Gonza
Confined at home and struggling to nurse severe injuries he sustained ,after cement-loaded truck knocked him, 14-year-old Brian Okware, a pupil of TICAF Primary School in Tororo, is need of urgent medical attention to get him back on his feet.
Brian, who has lost his speech, is not able to move, sit or eat by himself due to paralysis in four limbs. The muscles in his hands, arms and legs have contracted causing them to fold, following what the Tororo District medical officer, Dr David Okumu, says was an injury of the nervous system.
A report by Dr Pataleo Epachu of Mulago Hospital indicates that Brian’s’s arm got broken and his skull injured thus injuring his nervous system.
His Mother, Betty Apio, and other family members now have to spoon-feed him whenever he is hungry, clean him whenever he eases himself and carry him whenever he needs to change position because he cannot stretch his hand, arms and legs.
Dr Epachu who attended to him at Mulago Hospital recommended that he is taken for review and further treatment every two weeks but his father, Gregory Okware, 64, was only able to take him back once because he could not raise the Shs500,000 expenditure for every visit.
Speaking outside his grass-thatched house in Osia Village, Tororo District, Okware says he had even failed to afford a dose of the Shs150,000 medicine that Okware is meant to take on a monthly basis.
He says he has only managed to raise only Shs50,000 of the money needed for the dose.
“The cost of treatment and taking care of Brian has overwhelmed me due to financial hardships. To make matters worse, [ROJAM (U) LTD], the company which owns the truck that knocked my son, has never supported me in any way. On getting back from the hospital, we found when the driver had been released and the vehicle handed back to them,” Okware says.
It is not yet clear how much exactly Brian needs for his treatment because he needs to first go back for review for the doctors to know the kind of treatment he will need, and the cost.
Unfortunately, Brian’s father cannot afford to transport his son to Mulago hospital. Overwhelmed by the cost of what is required for feeding, treatment and rehabilitation of his son, Okware stormed Tororo police station with the boy to ask police to intervene and compel ROJAM (U) LTD, to meet the bill, since they have ignored all calls for support.
“We did our best and impounded the vehicle, had the owner prosecuted but he paid the fine (Shs200,000) as ruled by court and was released. What is pending now is a civil matter which needs a private lawyer,” Robert Katuramu, the Tororo district police commander says.
However, Okware wonders why court did not ask ROJAM (U) LTD to meet the costs needed to treat his son after paying the Shs200,000 fine.
