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How govt skipped options to save Oulanyah in Europe
Former Speaker of Jacob Oulanyah. Photo | File
What you need to know:
- At the vigil held at the late Jacob Oulanyah’s home in Kampala on Sunday night, Dr Aceng said he was taken to Seattle, the capital of Washington state in the United States, because it has the best technology for handling his illness.
Health Minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, has said the Parliament Speaker was taken to one of the best hospitals in the world.
At the vigil held at the late Jacob Oulanyah’s home in Kampala on Sunday night, Dr Aceng said he was taken to Seattle, the capital of Washington state in the United States, because it has the best technology for handling his illness.
“The treatment or the technology that we wanted is available in three hospitals in the world. One in Germany, another in France but the technology started in Seattle. By the time we sent him there he was quite ill,” she said.
The minister did not say the medical expertise in the two European countries was less-than-satisfactory and never explained then why they flew a man who required urgent care outside Uganda to Seattle, a distance twice as longer as the flight to Germany and France.
In addition, the commercial Uganda Airlines plane that the government chattered to transport the Speaker was not retrofitted as an air ambulance, suggesting the level of medical care during the transit would be limited.
The Uganda Airlines plane, whose altered call sign was UR2, departed Entebbe International Airport and flew to Keflavik in south-west Iceland, more than 1,400 nautical miles northwest of both Germany and France.
It refuelled and lifted off for Seattle in the US Pacific coast, with the two legs of the trip, excluding layover in Iceland, taking at least 17 hours, according to multiple flight tracker sites.
The Minister of Health, DrJane Ruth Aceng, addresses mourners at Oulanyah’s home in Muyenga, Kampala, on Sunday night. PHOTO / DAVID LUBOWA
By contrast, a direct flight to Germany and or France, two countries that Health minister identified as alternative destinations for Oulanyah’s specialist care, would have lasted about seven and half hours, just about have the time for the US trip.
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In her accounts offered on Sunday night, minister Aceng, who was among top government officials who travelled to check on Oulanyah on his sickbed in the US, said American doctors tried repeatedly to stabilise him because of his serious illness.
“[But] they (doctors) didn’t succeed, he passed on before he got the actual treatment. All this time they were trying to stabilise him. We had the opportunity to see him last Wednesday and Thursday. He couldn’t talk. He could open his eyes and cry. I prayed with him, he could node and I understood that meant Amen,” she said.
According to the minister, she was in constant contact with the Omoro County Member of Parliament.
The fallen Speaker was rushed out of the country for treatment on February 4 aboard a Uganda Airlines airbus A330-800 neo, registration 5X-NIL, that landed in Seattle --- thousands of miles farther than either France or Germany, the nearest possible alternative destinations for the specialised care. Some of Oulanyah’s close friends, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, told this newspaper at the Sunday vigil in Muyenga, Kampala, that they believe he died due to delayed treatment.
“People have different opinions. Jacob was delayed here trying to get care at Mulago Hospital but it was not helping. If they had taken him to the USA early, maybe he would have survived,” the friend said.
On February 8, during the afternoon plenary session, Ms Anita Among, the deputy speaker of Parliament, said: “As you are aware, Rt Hon Speaker of Parliament, Mr Oulanyah, has been unwell for the last two weeks. During this period, he was receiving medical attention from Mulago National Referral Hospital.”
She added: “The medical experts in consultation with his personal doctors outside Mulago, referred him for specialised medical attention out of the country.”
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This was four days after the Speaker had been flown to the US over an undisclosed illness.
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“Throughout his stay there [abroad] I talked to him every day while he was in hospital, moving to the general ward, then to intensive care. I tracked his movements and I talked to him. It was tough,” Health Minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng
