Mityana Hospital on the spot over irregularity in recruitment

MITYANA. The State House’s Health Monitoring Unit (HMU) has uncovered rot in the recruitment of medical staff at Mityana General Hospital where a quack doctor was entrusted with lives of patients.

The case in point, according to the HMU findings is that of a one Mr Chris Ogwang Egaru, who was recruited at the facility as a surgical intern yet he lacked the expertise to do the job.

The report follows last week’s incident where 19-year old Sylvia Nantongo, a resident of Mutetema Village, Kalangaalo Sub County in Mityana District who allegedly died due to neglect by the Mr Egaru.

Nantongo who delivered a baby six months ago had been rushed to the facility after developing intestinal obstruction. However, Mr Egaru who is currently on the run, reportedly demanded sh350,000 from Nantongo’s family in order to operate her.

The family managed to raise Shs200,000 and promised to pay the remaining Shs150,000 in due course but according to Ms Joyce Nantale, the deceased’s mother, her daughter was taken to the theatre and abandoned at the entrance where she later breathed her last.

The incident sparked public rage as several people complained of how the hospital staff have always extorted money from them before getting the services.

This forced the Health Monitoring Unit to swing in action by investigating the matter.

HMU was set up by President Museveni in 2009 as a strategic response to existing challenges in the health sector and the resulting poor service delivery.

It’s a department under State House whose broad remit is to improve health services for the population by monitoring the management of essential medicines and service delivery.

According to HMU report, Mr Egaru reportedly arrived in Mityana last month and straight away approached the medical superintendent Dr Vincent Kawooya claiming he was a second year student at Stanford University in Italy.

He subsequently applied for a placement at the hospital through which the Chief Administartive Officer (CAO) Mr James Nkaata. He was then cleared by the human resource officer who gave him an internship letter allowing him to train with the hospital under the supervision of Dr James Ogwang, a surgeon at the hospital.

The report also reveals that Mr Egaru had conducted 13 operations at the hospital between June 1 to June 11. The findings further reveal that the registration number which Mr Egaru purports to have registered with, the under the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners (UMDPC) belongs to a one Dr Nicholas Karuhanga.

“The registration certificate with UMDPC does not indicate the institute where he studied from and the year he qualified with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. His known telephone numbers he has been using are not registered in his names,” the report reads.

Once arrested, Mr Egaru will be charged with four counts including, impersonation, forgery, uttering false documents and extortion.

However, Mr Edmond Ssendikwanawa the district human resource officer in charge of the health department was on Wednesday arrested over the mess in recruitment. This was because he was the one who offered the suspect an internship placement without the recommendation of the District Health Officer (DHO).

HMU in the report recommended that all patients who were operated by Mr Egaru be recalled for review and further assessment by a qualified surgeon.

Dr Jackson Ojera Abusu, the director HMU, said the hospital’s medical superintendent Dt Vimcent Kawooya, who has also allegedly gone into hiding is also wanted for criminal negligence.

"He flouted the internship placement guidelines of the Ministry of Education which he ought to know as head of such a big training health facility. He also failed to do due diligence like consulting with his supervisor the DHO, before allowing Egaru to work in the hospital thereby putting vulnerable patients at risk, an act which is prejudicial to the interests of his employer,” Dr Ojera said.

Dr Ojera also revealed that during their investigations, they discovered that some unscrupulous health workers at the facility smuggle out drugs and medical equipment using coffins.

Mityana General Hospital has about 80 workers including support staff. Of these, ten are doctors with one surgeon according to Mr Edward Muganga, the district information officer.

Between 300 and 450 patients seek treatment from the facility every day.