Bishop Ceaser Asili Memorial hospital in Luweero is again under spotlight for detaining three more mothers for over a month over unpaid medical bills.
This week, the hospital was under media spotlight after it was discovered that it had detained a one Stella Adong since December 21 after she failed to clear a medical bill of Shs 495,000. Adong was detained after giving birth to twins at the hospital.
Now, the hospital is holding three more mothers; Lois Ajalu, Aisha Nakanjako and Annet Nalwadda, all residents of Luweero district, also over failure to clear medical bills. All the three mothers delivered through C-section They have under detention for between one and two months at the hospital.
Ajalu owes the hospital Shs 600,000, Nakanjako Shs 360,000 and Nalwadda Shs 480,000. According to Nakanjako, shortly after her delivery the hospital asked for Shs 460,000 but her husband was only able to raise Shs 100,000. Nakanjako says she pleaded with the hospital to release her to go and look for the balance in vain.
Nalwadda, another mother also says she pleaded with the hospital to let her go and look for the money in vain. Nalwadda broke up with her husband just before she delivered and is currently surviving on handouts from friends and well-wishers. jalu has spent the last three months at the hospital for failure to pay Shs 600,000. Ajalu, who now regrets giving birth in a hospital, says she feels stressed.
The three mothers have asked the ministry of health to come to their rescue, saying they are too poor to afford the medical bills. This afternoon, Winnie Kiiza, the Leader of the Opposition rushed to Luweero together with the area woman MP, Lilian Nakate and their Lira counterpart, Joy Atim to rescue, Stella Adong from the same facility who was also held for failing to pay Shs 495,000.
Adong delivered twins five months ago but was retained by the hospital after failing to clear her medical bill. She asked the hospital to release Adong, saying the health State minister, Joyce Moriku has promised to clear her medical bills.
“Now I think our intervention as women parliamentarians who decided to speak about this matter has helped in two ways and we have enabled the ministry commit itself to paying Adong’s bill – something they had not talked about. And we want to thank the media for bringing it out.
The second issue is, helping Adong to at least get people who know her. The only way is to solve this problem is to ensure that people have money in their pockets.
As long as we keep people in poverty and make them depend on government’s for hand-outs, we shall continue facing the same challenges. So the only way to get Ugandans out of this mess, getting Ugandans of getting out of a cycle of becoming beggars is by ensuring that they have money in their pockets. When we improve household incomes then we shall solve such problems. Some relatives even shy away from responsibility because you find they are equally burdened”, Kiiza said.
Lilian Nakate, the Luweero Woman Member of Parliament, said although Adong has been discharged, she has nowhere to go because her family was evicted from the house evicted over accumulated rental arrears. The legislator has decided to stay with Adong as they trace for her parents in Nwoya district, where she hails from.
Sister Ernestine Akullu, the administrator of Bishop Asili hospital declined to speak to journalists and also blocked her staff from doing so, saying the media is tarnishing the image of the facility.
However, in her interaction with the MPs, Sister Akullu noted that they are overwhelmed by a high number of people who are unable to pay for the medical services.
Akullu said they are stuck with unpaid medical bills amounting to Shs 50 million, saying they only receive Shillings 21 million under Primary Health Care from government, which can’t help either.
Bishop Ceaser Asili Memorial is private Catholic Church founded hospital based in Luweero town.