Jonas Mfitumukiza, a primary six pupil at Gakenke Primary School and a resident of Mburabuturo village in Nyakabande sub-county was admitted to the hospital on February 15, 2023, after suffering a strange illness on his right leg.
A
16-year-old boy in Kisoro district is detained at St.
Francis Hospital Mutolere over failure to clear 6.25 million Shillings in medical bills.
Jonas
Mfitumukiza, a primary six pupil at Gakenke Primary School and a resident of
Mburabuturo village in Nyakabande sub-county was admitted to the hospital on
February 15, 2023, after suffering from chronic osteomyelitis with a pathological fracture.
Chronic
osteomyelitis is a progressive inflammatory process caused by pathogens,
resulting in bone destruction and sequestrum formation. The infection is caused
by bacteria or fungi. It causes painful swelling of bone marrow, the soft
tissue inside the bones. Without treatment, swelling from this bone infection
can cut off the blood supply to the bone, causing the bone to die.
Geoffrey
Ndagijimana, the father says that Mfitumukiza underwent surgery and is
now recovering. Ndagijimana however says
that at the time of discharging him, he was charged 6.2 million Shillings.
When Ndagijimana failed to raise the bill, the victim was detained and ordered not to leave the
hospital premises until the money was paid to zero balance. Ndagijimana says that his pleas to the hospital to give him time to look for money have hit a dead rock.
//Cue in:
“ukurikira kwa kabiri…
Cue out:
…ibyo bibazo.”//
Aloysius
Nsengiyumva, the in-charge of St. Francis Hospital Mutolere admits holding
Mfitumukiza since his parents failed to clear the bills. He adds that the
hospital incurred a lot of costs to treat the patient and the hospital cannot
accept to lose that money.
//Cue in:
“igufa rirarwara riramungwa…
Cue out:
…turi kumuvura.”//
In February, the High
Court in Kampala ruled that the practice of private hospitals
detaining patients who fail to pay their medical bills is illegal.
The ruling stemmed from a case that was filed by the Center for Health, Human Rights, and Development- CEHURD and Mugerwa
Raymond suing through his father Sentongo Robert.
Mugerwa was detained by Jaro Hospital in Kyaliwajjala
after he failed to pay the bill arising out of a surgery that had been
performed on him following an accident.
Justice Douglas Singiza ruled that hospitals are not legal detention centres and
therefore cannot purport to retain anybody regardless of the circumstances.
Singiza added
that if the court were to allow the practice of hospitals detaining patients
who fail to pay their medical bills to go on unchecked, many hospitals could
choose to incarcerate their clients in the basements of their premises until medical
bills are cleared and that this would easily pass on as a green light
for hospitals to establish private prison cells as a debt recovery method, a
phenomenon that he said is antithetical to the rule of law.
