Letters
Let’s not rush to blame Mulago staff
Let’s not rush to blame Mulago staff
Whatever happened to the referred cancer patient who died negligently in the compound of Uganda cancer institute is an unfortunate incident. In fact, it’s something we can call inhumane. How can a patient be left to stay in a tent for three days without medical attention simply because of protocol. Is this really fair? Is this the way a government institution is supposed to cater for civilians supposed to act. That if it’s a public holiday or weekend, patients cannot be admitted or attended to especially in the absence of medical practitioners.
How can this be? I thought hospitals were supposed to operate 24/7 or is Mulago exempted from this way of operation?
Whatever that it is, looking at the circumstances leading to this patients death, it’s really hard not to blame Mulago Hospital for its negligence; but does the staff deserve our condemnation? I was once a patient at Mulago, and i have witnessed the dedication and commitment that is exhibited by medical practitioners. Howbeit they have an obligation to save lives, can we blame them for this incidence?
While medical practitioners were trained to save lives, they are also human beings like us. We may put it to them that on such a day if they had been at work, may be that man’s pain and suffering would have been stopped and may be today, he would be alive even as we speak.
But what about them? Don’t they deserve a day off; a time to rest and find space for thinking. Do you think they don’t have families to go to; their own problems to solve? Let’s not try to model this people into gods; they are just mere humans using their profession to save lives but we shouldn’t infer that to mean that these people don’t have a life after their professions. While they have an obligation to save lives that obligation doesn’t exceed the line of their own lives.
What do you think may happen if a medical practitioner was to be fatigued? He/she is bound to make mistakes. Not only would this affect the patient’s life but his/her life would be endangered as well. What good would this be to anyone?
So, let’s try not to rush to condemn medical practitioners whenever an ill issue arise in a hospital. Not only are they humans but they also have a management system behind their practice. If the ministry of health says it’s going to investigate the incidence, I see that as one big fat lie. These are the people responsible for such poor managerial systems at Mulago. If the government established a public holiday as a non working day for all civilians and Mulago hospital under the Ministry of health adheres to such a policy, then who will be blamed if the staff is allowed absenteeism on such days.
It is with such incidences that Ministry of health can learn its mistakes and try to correct them. I believe it is high time they made a strategic plan that caters for public holiday and weekend programs. While medical practitioners need their rests, patients also need medical attention.
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