Lumu who is also the president of the Diabetes Association of Uganda says they are seeing an increase in the number of children presenting with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and yet when they turn up to hospital they are wrongly treated for malaria and diarrheal diseases. Worse, he says for some who fail to respond to treatment, parents resort to using witchcraft.
Achom's treatment costs have skyrocketed beyond the family's expectations. Initially, they estimated the total bill to be around 30 million Shillings, but with the added expenses of ICU care, the cost has risen to 61,644,890 Shillings in just one month. The daily ICU expenses exceed 2 million Shillings, and the bills continue to accumulate.
Dr Lisbon Aliraki, an Ophthalmic Surgeon based at Mengo Hospital says they reviewed data at the hospital eye department and found that corneal conditions were the highest recorded cases in FY 2021/2022.
Nakireka explains that the problem of elevated blood sugars amongst the sufferers was because of some the COVID-19 treatments like steroids which are given for their anti-inflammatory abilities.
Dr Tonny Tumwesigye, the Executive Director of the Bureau, which cover a network of 305 facilities founded by the Church of Uganda, the Seventh-day Adventist and Pentecostal Churches, says that while the government allocates Private Not for Profit (PNFP) health facilities an annual grant to enable them to subsidize services, the pandemic has increased the cost of their services with some on the verge of collapsing.
Dennis Bwanika, Mengo hospital’s Public Relations Officer told URN on Monday that the new mother’s allegations are baseless saying they have conducted an internal investigation following her complaint which show she left the hospital in good shape three days after the operation. Without revealing details of what they have found, Bwanika said in case she needs an explanation the hospital is ready to take her through what they have found privately in respect of the medical code of conduct.
Dr Gerald Mutungi, who heads the Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Division in the Ministry says that Non-Communicable Diseases have had the most causalities because many people went off their hypertensive drugs during the lockdown and the onset of community transmission found their immune systems already down.
At International Hospital Kampala and Mengo hospital, for instance, one is not allowed to disembark from their car before being sanitized and their temperature taken. At Nsambya hospital a tent has been erected where every visitor is supposed to wash their hands and given a clearance note.
