The nurse identified as Paul Wamala was picked up yesterday after relatives of a 2-year old child who died last week at the facility reported the matter to the Arua Regional Referral Hospital police post.
A nurse attached to Arua
Regional Referral Hospital theatre has been arrested over allegations of abuse of office and receiving
a bribe.
The nurse identified as Paul Wamala was picked up yesterday after relatives of a 2-year old child who died last week at the facility reported the matter to the Arua Regional Referral Hospital police post.
It is alleged that the suspect
demanded a bribe of 210,000
Shillings which was paid to him by the relatives but still delayed a life-saving operation for more than seven hours leading to the death of their child Aron Nabil, who had been diagnosed with intestinal obstruction.
But as soon as they arrived, the relatives say, Wamala asked them to give him 30,000 Shillings to buy
medicines to commence the procedure. He however returned shortly asking
for an additional 180,000 Shillings. Although the operation was later carried out, the relatives say that there was negligence that resulted in the loss of life.
Josephine Angucia, the West Nile regional police
spokesperson, says the arrest was delayed because the suspect had abandoned his workstation after the incident and his whereabouts had remained unknown. According to Angucia, the suspect will be produced before the court once the
investigations are complete.
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Meanwhile, Arua City Resident Commissioner Alice Akello has
warned the health workers against soliciting bribes from patients saying it’s
against their ethics.
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This is not the first time that a staff of Arua Regional Referral
Hospital is been arrested over abuse of office. The latest incident involved
the arrest of three staff of the Hospital in February this year, over the alleged
theft of digital x-ray machine components which they used to secure a loan of
sh1.2 million from a financial institution in Arua City.
Similarly, in December 2021, the Inspectorate of Government arrested
two former staff of the hospital over alleged embezzlement of 28 million Shillings that was
advanced to the hospital under the Uganda Population-Based HIV Impact
Assessment (UPHIA) project.
