Patient dies after ambulance overturns en route to Mulago hospital

A patient died Sunday afternoon after an ambulance in which he was travelling to Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala overturned along Kyegegwa-Mubende road, leaving five other occupants seriously hurt.

Joseph Mainuka, 97, died in the road crash hours after he was referred by Mount St Mary's Hospital in Kasese District where he had been admitted to Mulago hospital for specialized treatment.

His family then hired an ambulance belonging to Kasese Community Medical Centre to drive them to Kampala but along the way, it sustained a tyre burst before the driver lost control and it overturned several times, according to police.

The Rwenzori West police spokesperson, Mr Vincent Twesige, identified the survivors as Dr Allan Kambale, 32; Mable Mayinuka, 50; Console Mayinuka, 45; Amon Masereka and the driver whose particulars were not readily available by press time.

They are all admitted at Kyegegwa hospital.

The scene was visited by detectives led by the Kyegegwa district traffic officer, Mr Alfred Nkwasibwe.

In separate accident, a truck carrying packed salt also overturned at Kisamura along Kyegegwa-Fort Portal Highway at around 4:50pm.
The truck was travelling from Kampala to Fort Portal city.
Its occupants, Said Juma, Hussein Daria and Godfrey Mumbere were rushed to Kyegegwa hospital for treatment. Police said they are still investigating the cause of the crash.
Sunday’s crashes happened two months after a nurse and a patient on May 11 burnt to death when an ambulance in which they were travelling exploded into flames in Bunyangabu District.
Police identified the patient as Robert Asaba, 53, a resident of Hamukungu in Lake Katwe Sub County, Kasese District who was being evacuated to another hospital after referral.

Police statistics
Uganda has continued to register high rates of accidents. Between 2006 and 2016, road crash fatalities increased by 25.9 percent (from 2,597 to 3,503) with the accident severity index of 24 people killed per 100 road crashes.  

In 2019, 18,426 casualties were registered from road traffic accidents with Careless driving being the leading cause of road accidents (40 percent) and about 28 percent of road accident crashes occurred between 4-8pm, a time when critical health care services are slowing down. 

The recent police crime report on traffic and road safety for 2021 shows that 3,757 people died in road accidents between January and December 2021, compared to 3,269 in 2020.  The same report shows that 9,070 people were critically injured in road accidents in 2021compared to 5803 in 2020. In 2021, 17,443 road accidents were recorded compared to 12,249 registered in 2020.

Ten people die daily in road traffic accidents, which is the highest rate in East Africa.

A 2016 study by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), USA found that crashes due to human error account for anywhere between 94 percent and 96 percent of all auto accidents.