Kanyamunyu skips five nearby hospitals

Kampala: Matthew Kanyamunyu and his girlfriend Cynthia Munangwari, the prime suspects in the killing of Kenneth Akena Watmon, skipped five hospitals where they could have rushed the deceased for help. By driving around instead of heading for the nearest medical facility, the suspects lost critical emergency response time, thereby denying Akena any chance he had of surviving the shooting.

The China-Uganda Friendship Hospital Naguru is just 850 metres away, a less than two minute drive from the environs of Kyadondo Rugby Club where Mr Akena is believed to have been shot.

The next option for Mr Kanyamunyu and Ms Munangwari, who have since been arrested to help police with the investigations, was The Surgery hospital. It would have taken the couple only eight minutes to get Mr Akena to the hospital irrespective of their option of the three alternative routes at their disposal.

Having skipped the first two, three other alternatives remained. Mr Akena could have been rushed to AAR Health Services hospital on Elizabeth Avenue, Kololo; to Kampala Hospital or Kololo Hospital. All the facilities work 24-hours and some have ambulance services. No ambulance service was contacted by the couple to come to Mr Akena’s rescue, according to information available to this newspaper.

Instead, Mr Akena is reported to have been taken to Victoria University Healthcare Centre on Kira Road, about 7km from where he was reportedly shot.

Victoria Hospitals speaks out
Sources at Victoria University Healthcare Centre told Sunday Monitor last week that Mr Akena never received any treatment at the hospital because the hospital did not have, at the time, necessary manpower to handle his case seeing that there was only one doctor on duty.
Dr Lukoma, the chief medical officer at the Victoria University Healthcare Centre, who our sources say was the doctor on duty that day, said a statement about what happened when Akena was brought at the hospital had been recorded with the police.
From Victoria University Healthcare Centre, the couple again skipped Mulago National Referral Hospital just a stone throw away and headed to Nakasero Hospital which is between five to 20 minutes away depending on route taken.
It is not clear whether the decision to skip Mulago hospital could have been informed by the fact that on many occasions, people who bring in mainly accident victims, are either detained or questioned at the Mulago Casualty Unit police post.
Also, Mulago Hospital is undergoing renovations and that could have informed the decision by the couple to skip it and head to Nakasero Hospital.
“Every minute counted,” says Dr Vincent Karuhanga, a leading physician, at Friends’ Polyclinic in Kampala. “The time factor was very important.”
“The most important thing would have been to call an ambulance but in Uganda, we don’t have a functional ambulance system. It is a very big problem. What the person could have done was to call police,” he says.

Precious time lost
From the moment Akena was shot to the time he received medical assistance, Dr Karuhanga says a lot could have happened, including severe loss of blood, that could have caused his pressure to collapse, precipitating a shut-down of vital internal organs.
“It was an emergency; a gunshot in the abdomen is an emergency. We don’t know which organ could have been injured. If you injure the pancreas, for example, you can release juices that digest food, they can digest even the intestines and you don’t find them there,” he said.

Akena death

Akena is believed to have been shot around Lugogo area in Kampala at around 7pm last Saturday following a clash with Mr Kanyamunyu. Preliminary information shows the clash resulted from a minor motor accident.
Available information indicates Mr Kanyamunyu has told the police that in driving Akena to three different health facilities in the city, he was acting as a Good Samaritan after Akena had been shot by another person. Mr Kanyamunyu claims Akena was shot by his [Akena’s] colleague with whom they had attacked Mr Kanyamunyu and his girlfriend.
Mr Kanyamunyu’s statement is contradicted by that of the deceased’s brother, Mr John Nyeko, who says his brother told him at Nakasero Hospital that he had been shot by the very people who took him to the hospital. Akena had been taken to the hospital by Mr Kanyamunyu and Ms Munwangari.

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