By Ismael Kasooha
Police in Kibaale, western Uganda rushed to rescue a midwife from irate residents who wanted to lynch her accusing her of neglect of duty that led to the death of a pregnant woman.
The residents of Isunga trading centre in Kyanaisoke sub county, Kibaale district, western Uganda were furious following the death of expectant mother Hajara Katusabe, 24, after the midwife on duty refused to open her house at the health centre to attend to the woman who had developed malaria.
A relative to the deceased woman identified as Henry Setala told the New Vision that they rushed Katusabe to Isunga health centre III at around 3 in the morning but the midwife refused to open to attend to them.
“Katusabe developed some malaria deep in the night and when we rushed her to the nearby health centre we were not assisted at all,” said Setala.
He said that they waited at the doorway of the health centre until 6am when Katusabe died.
“Katusabe died as she struggled to give life to a newborn while the nurse kept in doors sleeping until morning,” added Setala.
The residents of Isunga were angered by the actions of the midwife and stormed the health center to lynch her but the police, whose station is opposite the health centre, swung into action and saved the woman from residents.
CID Kibaale Ben Mugisha, the officer in charge criminal investigations, said they are holding the midwife as they investigate the matter.
Mugisha said, in a statement given by the midwife, the woman agreed she did not open for the pregnant woman but said this was because “she feared for her life deep in the night”. The midwife is reported to have called the ambulance in morning from Kagadi hospital but it was too late to save Katusabe and her unborn baby.
The postmortem report indicates that Kastusabe, who was 6 months pregnant, died of severe malaria.
The midwife may face charges of neglect of duty once investigations are complete.
“We are finalizing with the file so that we can forward it to the government lawyer for advice,” said Mugisha.
At the beginning of the year, the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) launched a one year project to save mothers and newborns by distributing toll free mobile phones to all health centre IIIs and IVs to help aid communication.
In addition, IDI procured two ambulances for the district, one of which was allocated to Kagadi hospital, which is 10km away from Isunga health centre where the expectant mother died.
According to statistics from Kibaale district’s medical department, over 450 mothers out of every 100,000 in the district die each year.
IDI aims at halving deaths related to childbirth by the end of this year.
