Dr Ssengendo reveals icon Kirunda needed miracle to survive collapse

Chances were few that Jimmy Kirunda could survive after collapsing in Bwaise, medics say.

Dr Ntege Ssengendo, a personal doctor of Kirunda for nearly 48 years described the fatal condition as ruptured aortic aneurysm.

Kirunda, 70, a former Uganda Cranes great, died on Monday at Mulago Hospital. Regarded by many as a legend, Kirunda is revered as the longest serving Cranes captain who played at three Africa Cup of Nations finals.

The highlight of his career, was at KCC in 1978, where he switched from defence to striking, going on to lead the league top scorer’s log with a record 32 goals.

The record was only broken two decades later, by Andrew ‘Fimbo’ Mukasa in 1999.
According to a post-mortem report produced by Dr Opika Opoka, Kirunda succumbed to the rupture of an abdominal aneurysm that causes profuse internal bleeding.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm occurs when there is enlargement or a weakening of the wall of the large blood vessel that supplies blood to the abdomen and lower body.
According to medical journals, the condition is found most often in men over the age of 60 who have a family history of aneurysm, have been smokers or have other heart disease risk factors.

If the aneurysm weakens the vessel wall to the point that it ruptures, it is a life-threatening medical emergency with a minimal survival rate of about 20 per cent.
According to Dr Ntege, survival can be possible when the case is handled in not more than five minutes.

Dr Ntege recalls that it all started in 2016 when Kirunda felt a strong headache but he was diagnosed him with an extremely high blood pressure (BP 190/100) and sinuses. These are fatal conditions which Dr Ntege attributes to heading balls at an early age.

“It may be insignificant but I think as a young footballer in defence he was called to head balls more often,” Dr Ntege, who was the national team doctor since 1971, says.
Last minutes
A stranger called Dr Ntege at 12:21pm as directed by a dying Kirunda near Bwaise flyover.
Some onlookers who did not know Kirunda suspected Coronavirus and kept some distance.

Dr Ntege who says he did not have a sticker to move from his home in Luteete along Gayaza Road where Tropical Spa Medical Centre is found, called Kirunda’s caretaker Eng Patrick Kalule, to rush to the scene. By the time Kalule was in Kyambogo, 13km away.

Kabuye got an ambulance from a garage but by the time he reached the late was driven to Mulago Morgue where he was pronounced dead.

“When Dr Opoka told me that he had succumbed to aortic aneurism, I knew he would not have survived because it took about an hour for help to come,” he says.

But Dr Ntege says the late Kirunda never complained of abdominal pains. He always thought something was wrong with his heart. An ultrasound screening would have helped identify the problem.

“Only that in Uganda aneurysm surgeries cannot be conducted but identifying it would have helped,” he says. This condition, he explains, can manifest with its deadly pangs within nine months.
Some hospitals in India perform aneurysm surgeries for $7,000 (about Shs26m).
When nobody could pay
Kirunda was not feeling hopeful as there came a time when nobody could help him pay for his medical bills. Navigating the monthly medical needs was not easy.

After retirement from public service, Kirunda served as a personal assistant to former Fufa president Lawrence Mulindwa and two years in Moses Magogo’s leadership before he pulled off the plugs after two years in 2015.

Kirunda had lost his main sources of income making it hard to scrape up enough money to pay for his medical bills. He would team up with Matia Lule, Nimrod Kintu and Moses Oketayot to pick outstanding players in Copa Coca-Cola Schools Cup since 2014.
His last visit to Tropical Spa Medical Centre was on May 7, 2020 where he normally took his monthly dosage.
“He had obvious financial challenges. One time we tried reaching out to Fufa and KCCA FC for some help but none helped him,” Dr Ntege says.

This was on July 14, 2018 when Dr Ntege cancelled the old debt of Shs1.7m. His nephews Patrick and Gibby Kalule took up the responsibility of clearing the ills thereafter.

Fufa spokesman Ahmed Hussein who spoke on the financial issue said Kirunda was in good books with Fufa and he always won the heart of the president (Magogo).

Kaiser, as he was popularly known, will be laid to rest at his ancestral home in Mayirye Bulesa.

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