Medical Council investigates Mulago over conjoined twins

The Ministry of Health has asked Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council (UMDPC) to investigate circumstances under which Mulago hospital declined  to operate on conjoined twins who were referred to the facility for separation last month.

The director general of health services, Dr Henry Mwebesa, told Daily Monitor yesterday that they are still waiting for the Council’s findings  to inform next course of action.

“We asked UMDPC to investigate and send us a report on what happened. They have not yet sent the report,” Dr Mwebesa said.
The UMDPC chairman, Dr Joel Okullo,  said their investigations are ongoing and  that the report is expected next week.

“We have been to Mulago Hospital and interviewed the responsible people. We have also taken notes about the patient. We have gone to Soroti Hospital and done a similar thing. The report is expected early next week because we still have more investigations to conduct  in Mulago hospital,” Dr Okullo said.

Last month, Mr Paulo Oluo, the grandfather of the conjoined twins  who were later operated on at Soroti Hospital on March 27, said: “While at Mulago, we were left in suspense. No doctor attended to us until we received a letter discharging us without any attempt to separate the baby from its decomposing twin sister.”

 This incident left many people questioning the integrity of the hospital given  that last year in November, a team of 20 specialists at the facility successfully separated 11-month-old twins.
When contacted,  the management of Mulago hospital denied the accusations, but did not elaborate.

“We don’t refuse any patient care. That we ignored the parents is a media interpretation. We wrote a report to the Ministry of Health explaining what happened,” Dr Rosmary Byanyima, the deputy director of the Mulago hospital, said.

Earlier, Mr David Nuwamanya, the Mulago hospital principal administrator, was quoted by Uganda Radio Network news agency, to have said the caretaker of the twins disappeared before the case was handled.

But Mr Oluo told this newspaper that they left the hospital after receiving a discharge letter .  
He added that upon receiving the discharge letter  they lost hope and got distressed after  they failed to secure an ambulance to transport the twins.  

“I lost hope. I knew they were discharging us  so that our baby dies  from home. Our request to use the  Mulago hospital ambulance was futile as management asked for Shs1.3m which we didn’t have.”

They sought assistance from  a staff member at Mulgo hospital,  Dr Carolyn Akello Agwau, who gave them money to hire a vehicle .  On their way home, Mr Oluo said they decided to go back to Soroti hospital, to seek assistance .
 At Soroti hospital surgeons led by Dr Joseph Epodoi later agreed to operate the twins.

While honouring the team of surgeons at Soroti hospital at Parliament last week, the State minister for Disaster Preparedness, Mr Musa Ecweru, said the babies were denied care because they were from a poor family.

“I want to say this with a heavy heart, the minister of Health, you have a big responsibility to face this challenge head-on and ensure service delivery to the poor is equal to the rich - everybody,” Mr Ecweru said.

Penalties
The UMDPC professional code of conduct stipulates that a practitioner shall not deny emergency treatment or healthcare to a patient and  at all times exercise due diligence and provide services of good quality. The punishment for breaching the code of conduct ranges from warning (written or verbal), suspension from practice for a prescribed period, to erasure from the register which means the culprit will not be able to practice in any country, according to UMDPC.

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