Free surgery brings relief to victims

Mr Julius Tumusiime’s hope to walk again has finally been restored after his leg was successfully operated on at Kabale Regional Referral Hospital on Wednesday.
Mr Tumusiime, 42, a resident of Kijuguta in Kabale Municipality, had been admmitted to the hospital for about a month waiting for an operation that was delayed due to lack of money.
Orthopaedic Society of Uganda members organised a weeklong surgical camp at the hospital where patients are being operated free of charge. The camp started on Sunday.

Experiences
“I got an accident on August 22 on a boda boda and I have been lying on the sickbed here at Kabale hospital for one month now without any hope that I will walk again. I had been told that buying the implant and paying orthopaedic specialists was very expensive in private hospitals. I’m so glad that the well-wishers have fixed my broken leg at no cost,” Mr Tumusiime said. He now walks with support of crutches.
Innocent Agaba, a 16-year-old Primary Six pupil at Nyanja Primary School in Kabale District and Mr Obedi Nabasa, 23, a boda-boda cyclist and resident of Burambira in Kabale had also spent more than a month nursing broken limbs. They have now been operated on.
“I sustained a double fracture of the bone in the right thigh after I fell down while riding a bicycle going to school because the road was extremely slippery,” Agaba said.
“I was admitted to Kabale hospital at the beginning of last month. I had no hope of walking again because my parents cannot afford buying the implants that were required to fix my problem. I am now excited because now I can walk using crutches and I am sure I will go back to school,” Agaba added.
The team leader of the Orthopaedic Society of Uganda, Dr Rodney Mugarura, said they organised the camp to help the needy accident victims.
“Buying the implants and hiring orthopaedic specialists to fix a broken limb is very expensive for ordinary citizens as it requires about Shs7 million in a private health facility. I organised a team of about 20 orthopaedic surgeons, anaesthesiologists, nurses and orthopaedic officers from Kampala to come to Kabale hospital and offer free services to the needy patients,” Dr Mugarura said on Wednesday.
He is an orthopaedic and spine surgeon at Mulago National Referral Hospital. He said about 500 patients with broken limbs were attended to since Sunday and about 54 surgeries had been successfully done.
The patients were advised to immediately begin walking using crutches to facilitate healing.
“We are so grateful to our partners that include mainly pharmaceutical companies operating in Uganda that donated medicine and all the required implants for the patients with broken limbs,” Dr Mugarura said.
The director of Kabale Regional Referral Hospital, Dr Sophie Namasopo, thanked the Orthopedic Society of Uganda for extending a helping hand to the needy at the facility.

Project

Surgeries. The team leader of Orthopaedic Society of Uganda, Dr Rodney Mugarura, said surgeries conducted included: fixing fractures with implants, Osteomyelitis treatment, correcting club foot and knock knee deformities in children, among others.
Areas. Dr Mugarura also said similar free surgeries have been done at referral hospitals in Jinja, Mbarara, Gulu and Arua.