Strange disease leaves man, 20, on bended knee
Mr Dhafa is served food at a recent function. His mother says health workers have operated him but failed to ascertain the cause of the ailment. Photo by Denis Edema.
What you need to know:
Mother says they have combed hospitals but health workers failed to establish the cause of the swelling on Dhafa’s knee.
What is Mr Alupa Dhafa suffering from? This is the question that has gone unanswered to his mother, health workers and residents of Namutumba District for months.
Mr Dhafa, 20, is under severe pain after he developed a swelling on his left knee early last year.
His mother, Ms Betty Bogere, 45, said Mr Dhafa has been taken to various hospitals, but the disease has not been established.
“We have moved to many hospitals in Namutumba, Iganga, Jinja and to Mulago, but health workers at these facilities have not found what the problem is,” Ms Bogere said.
The receipts she showed the Daily Monitor indicated that on June 4, 2012, Mr Dhafa underwent an X-ray and was treated at Mercy Health Centre in Iganga District.
Another medical sheet showed that he was admitted to Mulago Hospital on July 24, 2012 and was given cap Tramadol medicine to boost the treatment.
Ms Bogere said while in Mulago, doctors operated the knee and took samples for tests, but they did not establish any disease.
Helpless
Mr Dhafa cannot walk nor lie down. He is helped to ease himself and sleeps while seated.
The father, Mr Richard Bogere, 53, a businessman, said they have tried what they could and are now left with only prayer.
“Everything has been commercialised, I do not know what to do to normalise my son’s life. I only pray for well-wishers to come to my son’s rescue,” said Mr Bogere.
Mr Dhafa’s parents, especially the mother, ensures that she and the son attend any public event, within and outside the district to reach to sympathisers.
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