Feature: Dark weekend as Uganda loses 3 senior medical doctors in 48 hours
By Executive Editor
As of 2020, Uganda’s doctor-patient and nurse-patient ratio stood at approximately 1:25 000 and 1:11 000 respectively. Experts agree that the gap makes the ratio below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended doctor-patient ratio of 1:1000. However, a number of circumstances explain this gap. Death, for example.
In the past 48 hours alone, Uganda lost three senior medical doctors to the Angel of Death.
They are: Dr. Jino Abiriga, Dr. Dr. James Eyul and Dr. James Sekajugo.
The trio died between Thursday night and Sunday morning.
The body of Dr. Sekajugo, for instance, was discovered at his residence in Bugolobi on Friday. He served the country as an Assistant Commissioner for Non-Communicable Diseases until his retirement.
Dr. Abiriga, on the other hand, was murdered by unknown people on Saturday night. He was the Acting District Health Officer (DHO) Masindi.
Similarly, the country lost Dr. James Eyul to an accident at Katulikire in Kiryandongo. He was the Head of Port Health at Entebbe International Airport.
“It’s been a dark weekend at the Ministry of Health,” Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said in a statement on Sunday evening.
