Thugs attack Busia health centre again, rob patients

Criminal gangs have once again struck Busia Health Centre IV, a government facility, and robbed patients of their property and unspecified amounts of money.

The latest incursion on the second biggest health facility in Busia Town comes after five similar attacks on the same facility, including two cases of theft, within a period of four months.

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During the first attack, which targeted the maternity ward, criminals fled with bags, babies’ clothes, unspecified amount of money and mobile phones, all belonging to mothers who had just delivered.

Hardly a week later, they raided the outpatient department and stole a television set at the waiting area, invertors for the solar panels that had just been delivered by the Ministry of Health, and also made off with the fire extinguisher.

Mr Bashir Idro, a medical worker at the facility, said apart from targeting the facility’s property, the criminals have vandalised cars, stolen valuables, including money and mobile phones from patients and caretakers in the peadiatric, maternity and general ward.

“We have been recording several cases where criminals come in the night, steal property and vandalise cars belonging to medical workers,” Mr Idro said on Tuesday.

Ms Ruth Nabwire, a nurse at the facility, narrated how she survived being stabbed by a criminal armed with knife, who had entered the nurses’ resting room.

“I heard a woman making an alarm, and when I woke up, I saw a man holding a knife walking towards my bed and, I too, raised an alarm, and the attacker fled,” she said.

Ms Annet Anyango, one of the mothers at the ward, said three criminals attacked them at around 1am on Monday.

She added that the assailants gained access to the ward and pretended to be looking for one of the caretakers, but suddenly, they started picking bags and other valuables, prompting her to raise an alarm that awoke other sleeping mothers.

Ms Evelyn Amoit, who had a sick baby at the ward on the night of the attack, said she heard the door to the ward open, which she mistook for a nurse on duty, but shortly, she heard one of the women cry out for help and that is when it dawned on her that they were being attacked.

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Ms Amoit said the criminals were barefooted and wore disguises, including black jackets.
Ms Harriet Anyango, a midwife at the facility, said she one time narrowly escaped death at the hands of a stranger who attacked her while she was in the pit-latrine.

Her only recollection of the ordeal is of a man pulling the door of the pit-latrine open and flashing light in her face, before she reportedly hit him in the face with the five-liter jerrycan she had carried for ablution before she ran away.

Ms Betty Oduya, the assistant nursing officer at the facility, said one night, some strangers pretending to be patients, entered a ward and beat up a nurse.

“We are at risk because as nurses, we are always on duty at night, making us very prone to attacks,” she said.

Mr Suleiman Mangeni Wacha, the chairperson of Solo Village, where Busia Health Centre IV is located, said cases of insecurity at the facility were on the increase, partly due to a worn-out fence which is porous and allows strangers to gain unfettered access.

He added: “The police are partly to blame for the insecurity at the facility because we have reported several cases of attacks on the facility but nothing has been done. This is a government health facility and we keep wondering why the police do not follow the many cases reported.”

Ms Grace Kanuna, the deputy Busia Resident District Commissioner (RDC), who heads security in the area, said she was going to discuss the matter with the district security committee, with a proposal to have police deployed to bolster security at the facility.

Mr David Walukhu, the deputy Busia Municipality speaker, said they recruited three security guards and deployed them at the facility, but expressed doubt about their ability to fulfil their duties.

“We have security guards here who we pay monthly but we wonder whether they are up to the task because thieves and criminals are wreaking havoc at the facility,” Mr Walukhu said, adding that they resolved to erect a permanent fence around the facility but there is no money to undertake the works.