Dreaming of a better healthcare scheme

  Right, Peter Okitera with his students in a classroom. Left, he writes on the blackboard from his wheelchair. Below right, Okitera speaks to fellow teachers. He taught Phyisics and Mathematics while inspiring his students that if a PWD, like himself managed to pass the subjects, they too, with all body parts functioning well can do them. PHOTOS BY HAMADI LUBWAMA

By Nafha Maani Ebrahimi

In Summary

A good job, great family, lovely weather, nutrition, peace and stability are all welcome aspects of a good life, but without proper health, everything loses its meaning and life becomes hell.

When I was attending to a sick family member who was admitted in a Municipal Hospital in Luxembourg, the last thing I thought about was to be inspired to write about my experience, but it is always hard times that stimulate my thoughts and generate ideas.

Well, the hard time was not being in the Luxembourg Hospital, it was the pain of remembering our Ugandan hospitals that made me sad. Every time I step in a municipal hospital that provides proper health care services with very high standards to the citizens of a country, such as the one I was in, I ask myself this question: When will we finally put our money to its proper use in Uganda?

Mind boggling questions
Of course this medical care is not totally free. There is a monthly fee that is paid by every citizen according to their working status. For this fee, that sometimes can be very low in case one is not employed, a full medical scheme covering a wide range of essential medical care including surgical interventions is provided. Of course there are also private clinics, but many people see no need to go to such clinics because the service in the government hospitals are as good, if not better.

Who said we cannot have such schemes in Uganda? We all live with taxes, We have witnessed the sharp and piercing teeth of the NSSF, and I still cannot understand why we are not able to have proper medical plans that will cover at least those who contribute. We seem to be mastering the action of taking, can we not start the blessing of giving?

The decorative emergency button
The first time I was hospitalised in Uganda, it was in a private clinic. I was lucky to afford a private room, my bed had a button to call the nurses in case of an emergency, and I have to say they had wonderful nurses there. So my husband left me in good hands and a button to call in case I needed them. In the middle of the night, my condition worsened and I needed assistance, so I pushed the button but no one came to my aide.

Realising that it was more of a decorative gadget than a practical one, I pulled myself out of the bed and called the nurses. The first question was: where is your husband? Its 2am I replied, he is at home sleeping. I could not understand what this question meant until my husband came early morning and the nurse who had just began her shift told him: “Ah, you are the husband who left his wife here alone last night.” We then understood why all those people we saw in hospitals with mattresses are sleeping near their patients, it seems to be the only way a patient can survive the night.

We can do better
Of course needless to say that when I left the hospital after paying a handsome amount of money, for many days ( and later for years) I kept wondering how can people afford such bills? Even if they were in a common ward and not a private room, the consultation fee, medication and other necessities would be the same for everyone, so how can people with minimum wages afford to pay?

In Uganda we have wonderful doctors, we could have had more, but they prefer to work outside of Uganda to get a better pay, and who can blame them for that anyway. We can also have specious and well equipped hospitals, but do we have people who can afford to pay hospital bills?

I hope someone will finally champion this cause and pave the way for proper health care systems in Uganda. We are tired of the image of skinny children in a queue waiting for food, as the only image portrayed about Africa, very tired indeed.