Sight of on-oxygen patient in bank sparks abuse claims
Mr John Zabazungu, who was wheeled to withdraw cash on Oxygen support, at Equity Bank headquarters at Church House in Kampala on Monday. COURTESY PHOTO
A photo of a septuagenarian wheeled into Equity Bank headquarters on Monday while connected to nasal cannulas and oxygen face masks, to withdraw cash, has raised question about the ethics of financial transactions.
An ambulance delivered Mr John Zabazungu, said to be 75-year-old, from Norvik Hospital on Bombo Road to the bank headquarters at Church House on Kampala Road where he reportedly picked cash to clear his medical bills.
A one Molly Nakato, who on Facebook identified herself as a daughter of the patient, in a post on Tuesday noted that Norvik Hospital had referred their father to Nakasero Hospital, but they required cash to offset the bills before the transfer.
Mr Zabazungu banks with Equity and the bank dispatched one of its staff to Norvik Hopsital, according to Ms Nakato, to verify if the septuagenarian was indeed hospitalsied and required substantial cash to pay up his bills.
The bank employee photographed the patient, but the payment processing stalled for unexplained reasons.
“…they (bank staff) said there are procedures…so what we did [is] he went in an ambulance and he was given the money and we went to Nakasero Hospital, but his condition worsened. He is now in ICU (intensive care unit),” Ms Nakato noted in her Tuesday post.
Ms Nakato was unresponsive to our inquiries and none of Mr Zabazunga’s family members was willing to speak on the matter when contacted.
One member told this newspaper at their family home in Kyebando, a Kampala city suburb, that they had resolved not to talk to the press.
We were unable to establish the bill accrued at Norvik Hospital.
Equity Bank, in response to inquiries by this newspaper, on Tuesday promised to explain the circumstances surroundings the bizarre sight of a critically ill patient in its banking hall before choosing silence.
An official in the bank’s public relations office on Tuesday asked our reporter to return for a briefing on the matter at 5pm, but the journalist on return was greeted by guards who said the front desk had closed.
The bank in a message posted on its Facebook page on Tuesday evening said Zabazunga’s family elected to take him to the bank as the institution explored how to process the financial transaction without his physical presence.
“We confirm that the bank is in touch with the family,” the message read, without providing specifics.
A photo, depicting an agonising old man on oxygen in a banking hall, was widely shared on Facebook with initial claims that he was a Nakasero Hospital patient delivered in an ambulance to pick up cash to pay his medical bill.
The hospital management dismissed the allegations, calling them “malicious”.
“We would like to categorically state that this is not true; this patient was not from our facility. As a leading healthcare provider in the region, Nakasero Hospital always puts patient care above all else,” it said.
Officials of Uganda Bankers Association (UBA), a grouping of 25 financial institutions, which, among other things, supports Ugandans and guarantees safe custody of clients’ resources with its member banks, yesterday declined to comment on the matter, citing its sensitivity
Ms Robina Kaitiritimba, the executive director of Uganda National Health User’s/Consumers Organisation (UNHCO), blamed Norvik Hospital for unprofessional conduct and mishandling a critically-ill patient.
“This is private sector and patients are supposed to pay, but we don’t expect a hospital to act like that. It is against the principle of Hippocratic Oath. You take a patient to the bank in that condition? That is really immoral,” she said.
