To pay Grace Acen’s medical fees when she was admitted to the institution following a cesarean birth, Margret Iloku, 63, spent over two weeks weeding the ground nuts of the nurses at Princess Diana HC1V in Soroti City.
Iloku, a resident of Tukum in the Soroti area, showed up at the facility unprepared, expecting the government health unit to provide free services.
She was prompted to pay for the file when she arrived because the hospital charges people 3,000 shillings for it.
The nurses requested an additional Shilling 20,000 since she was working hard to raise funds for the file so they could purchase jik, powder soap, and toilet paper, which were necessities for every expecting mother in labour at the institution.
Iloku became stuck and turned to the other patient attendants in the ward for assistance.
She was informed that some of the facility’s nurses needed help with some yard work as she stumbled around helplessly.
Iloku, who also has a joint dislocation, offered to work to earn money so he could go to the clinic for assistance.
Three days later, though, her patient could not push the baby out, necessitating a cesarean section.
She was instructed to deposit 300,000 shillings before the procedure could start while Iloku readied the patient for an operation in the operating room.
The medical staff had to postpone the operation since Iloku had no money. After numerous calls to her home country to request help, she ultimately succeeded in raising only 130,000 shillings.
Iloku was required to purchase various medications after the procedure in order to reduce the patient’s agony and aid in their recuperation.
This made it possible for her to work harder in the garden and earn more money to pay the expenses. Five days after her patient was released, Iloku was still in the garden when URN arrived at the facility.
She informed our reporter that there were outstanding expenses that needed to be paid before she could accompany the patient home.
Ilolu is not the only one fighting for health care at Princess Diana HC1V, though. Many additional inpatient attendants who don’t pay for the service wind up in the hospital gardens of the medical staff.
One of the nurses in the maize garden helped Florence Awayo, a different patient attendant from the maternity unit, purchase a file and a waiver for the 20,000 shillings intended for jik, powder soap, and toilet paper.
Additionally, Awayo’s patient underwent a cesarean section, which cost her 150,000 shillings. She told our reporter that despite the fact that the patient was taken to the theatre before the essential funds were deposited, the doctors threatened to kill Christine Abeja if the necessary costs weren’t paid.
The Princess Diana HC1V’s in-charge doctor, Dr. Alfred Anyonga, claims that he is not aware of the fees at the facility, with the exception of times when anaesthetists are not available.
According to him, the facility lacks an anaesthetist and occasionally needs assistance from the local referral hospital.
Princess Diana HC1V has long been under investigation for worker extortion. The City Woman MP, Resident City Commissioner, and city officials all intervened in response to the outcry last year.
