Patient commits suicide at Kiruddu Hospital

Patients at Kiruddu referral Hospital in Makindye Division were Thursday evening gripped with shock after one of their colleagues committed suicide.

The patient, a male adult, was a regular at the hospital where he received dialysis as he suffered a kidney dysfunction, diabetes and other illnesses, according to Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health who confirmed the incident.

"The incident happened at around 8pm when the patient who was in a wheel chair in company of his son on the 8th floor of the hospital asked him (the son) to get him tea," Mr Ainebyoona told Daily Monitor in an interview on Thursday evening.

"That is when he (the late) jumped from the 8th floor and died instantly," Mr Ainebyoona said.

Police by press time had taken the body to the mortuary at Mulago Hospital for postmortem.

The incident is one of the spate of gruesome suicides that have occurred in hospitals especially at Mulago National Referral Hospital before its department of internal medicine was transferred to Kiruddu Hospital in 2014 to allow renovation and refurbishment of the former.

In the past, Mulago Hospital authorities said that such incidents are hard to detect and prevent, dismissing accusations of laxity on their side.