Mother, baby die due to doctor’s negligence

Abim hospital

What you need to know:

  • In 2015, government injected millions of shillings to renovate Abim hospital after the visit to the hospital by the former Forum Democratic Change Party presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye.

Abim. An expectant mother on Monday died while trying to deliver on her own at Abim District hospital in what the hospital administration has admitted as negligence by a doctor at the health facility.
The Abim Hospital Medical Superintendent, Dr Edison Atwine, while confirming the incident, said the deceased, Jenifer Awor, 38, died with her baby after a long struggle to deliver without any help from the doctor present at the facility.

Negligence
According to Dr Atwine, the deceased was a resident of Abil Village in Koya Parish, Magamaga Sub-county in Abim District.
He said the incident, which is the first of its kind in Abim hospital, happened while he was way in Kampala on official duty.
“It’s true we lost our mother and her baby after the doctor at the hospital failed to respond to the calls by other nurses and the deceased’s caretaker to check on the deceased’s situation,” he said.

A nurse, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the deceased reached hospital at around 10pm and struggled for a long time until she died at about 4am the following day.
“As nurses we couldn’t handle the condition of the deceased because it was beyond us and needed the advice from the doctor, so we remained helpless,” she said.

Dr Atwine said Awor died after her uterus burst due to over struggling.
“The deceased was once operated on, so her death was caused after her uterus burst and led to over bleeding,” he added.

READ:

How Besigye visit turned round ailing Abim hospital

Hospital authorities say every patient has a bed and mattress which is temptingly comfortable in a community short on such material supplies


He further explained that the doctor on call was reluctant to attend to the woman thinking it was just mere labour pains and never took it seriously to respond on time.
He said the doctor, who was present at the hospital, Dr Anthony Okengo, who doubles as district health director, did not respond in time when he was called.

However, Dr Okengo distanced himself from the incident, saying the hospital medical superintendent should be answerable for the incident.
“I don’t think I am to blame for this incident, the medical superintendent should clearly tell the world how the mother together with her baby died but not to blame me,” he said.
The Abim Resident District Commissioner, Mr Hashaka Mpibizia, said he has directed the police to take up the matter.
“We don’t entertain doctors who behave as if they are killers by leaving and watching these two people dying, its unacceptable,” he said.

THE HOSPITAL
In 2015, government injected millions of shillings to renovate Abim hospital after the visit to the hospital by the former Forum Democratic Change Party presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye.
While campaigning in the sub-region for presidency in 2015, Dr Besigye made an impromptu visit to the referral hospital which had not received a facelift since it was built in the 1960s.
The hospital, which also had no single doctor, later received four doctors and other medical staff stationed at the hospital.