Main Feature: Focus on patients rights

Muhima Hospital struggling to serve “We don’t have enough medical personnel. Sometimes, a doctor could be operating on one patient and another case comes up. It is a huge challenge,” Uhagaze explained. Last week, Health Minister Dr. Richard Sezibera, urged Rwandans to ensure that their full rights to proper medical care are observed at all health centres country-wide. Dr Sezibera was sensitizing journalists on the recently adopted, Charter on Patient Rights and Responsibilities, which stipulates that patients have a right to care, privacy, information; and choices which include decision-making and a second opinion. The Minister urged patients on their rights, against a back-ground of persistent reports of ‘harassment’ and negligence subjected to patients visiting some hospitals. It was reported last week of the two doctors from Ngarama Hospital who the police arrested last year in connection with the death of an expectant mother after a botched operation. The two doctors Ric Kikoli, and N’sapu Yamba Yamba have since been deregistered, by the Rwanda Medical Council. It is in this vein that The Sunday Times reporter spent some days visiting one of our local hospitals, Muhima hospital, to get a feel of the situation of patients in need of medical care. Below is her narration: I arrived at Muhima Hospital at 9am in the morning on Wednesday last week. I had been tipped off by an insider who claims that there have been deaths due to negligence and lack of adequate staff, in the hospital. Even though I could not confirm the deaths, my brief experience at the hospital raises some concern. I first join the women in the maternity ward most of whom are due to deliver or want to consult about their pregnancies. In this maternity ward, some expectant mothers, in labour weep due to pain. Some of them lie still, having cried themselves to exhaustion. The sole nurse who is attending to them looks overwhelmed. A crestfallen Edwin Mukisa, 30, wails bitterly. He says he brought his expectant wife a day before but she still has not been attended to. “I don’t know whether she will survive. People here have a negative attitude,” Mukisa alleges. He looks worried for his wife. Many people, the majority of them female patients don’t want to go on record. “This is my hospital so I cannot afford to hit at the hand that feeds me,” one expectant mother who declined to be named said. The challenges are numerous. The nurses sometimes tell me they are understaffed. “Recently, we heard somebody died because the doctor on duty never attended to her in time. We are worried,” another patient who has been at the Hospital for three days says. A group of medical staff has ended its daily meeting at around 8:30a.m in the morning. It is a routine that medical staff hold meetings each morning to discuss the previous days challenges. A nurse who speaks to me on condition of anonymity says an 18-year old girl died before she could be attended to by the doctors. “I think there was a delay in her transfer. But you must understand that we don’t have enough doctors to attend to every patient,” the nurse said. “What I can say is that somebody died and there is a general feeling she was not helped in time. Maybe her life would have been saved,” the nurse added. Mothers in pain patiently wait for attention. Some nurses also say they are underpaid. “You find that some of us have been upgraded but our salaries were not increased,” one nurse complained. But the Director of Muhima Hospital, Dr. Blaise Uhagaze says the issue to do with low salaries does not arise in the medical profession. “Our work is to save lives and the rest can be negotiated later.” “I warn medical staff who hold such attitudes,” Uhagaze continues. “We try our best but in every life, you expect challenges. Some children are born unwell but those responsible (deaths) have to account,” Uhagaze says in an interview on Wednesday. He requested time to verify the issue of the young woman who died last month. “We don’t have enough medical personnel. Sometimes, a doctor could be operating on one patient and another case comes up. It is a huge challenge,” Uhagaze explained. “I cannot say that we are perfect but we try our best.” Despite the challenges, he said Muhima hospital emerged the best when the Ministry of Health last carried out evaluation concerning the performance of Kigali Hospitals. “We were rated at over 90 percent at one time recently. Yes, you meet problems today but learn from the mistakes and push forward,” says Uhagaze. “We try to sensitize our medical staff to improve on the level of communication with patients.” There is congestion some patients sleep on the floor. They appear to be in bad condition. But the hospital Director says all the districts in Kigali send their patients to Muhima. “I wrote to district leaders and requested them to convince their patients to go to other hospitals,” Uhagaze explained. Agnes Mutoni, 27, was taken to the hospital on Monday. She was given drugs to speed up the delivery process. Apparently, the doctor who gave the drugs did not return. And later when she complained, the doctor reportedly responded rudely to her. She said she was not alone. Many women face the same problem. Inside the children’s ward, few nurses attend to infants. The infants wail but it’s like nobody wants to attend to them. “Treating a person depends on how badly off they are, otherwise we give them far away appointments,” says a nurse. “This has affected many. For instance if malaria isn’t treated instantly, it will develop and be resistant to some medicines,” she adds. Some nurses turn their heads the other side, completely ignoring the pestering patients as if they are beggars on the streets. At the cashier’s office, the medical staff is overwhelmed by a huge crowd seeking to settle bills and perhaps transfer their sick relatives and friends. On my next day’s visit to the hospital, I spend three hours without seeing a single nurse or doctor attending to a group of waiting patients. ‘Even if we are here, all is not well. We need drugs yet we cannot access them,” said a nurse, who did not want to be named. “We can not just abandon these people. Although we have our problems, the patients need us more than ever and they have nothing to do with our personal problems,” she added. However, even with the seemingly overwhelming problems at the hospital, the patients seem to have no other option, while the health workers seem to trudge through their duties, with the scarce resources. Maybe, a little compassion and sense of urgency will help lift the weight from the patient’s hearts. Ends