This weekend should have been a time of celebration for Uganda's best performing secondary school students. Instead, the family of Isaac Bunkedeko, the best A level candidate of Namilyango Secondary School according to the New Vision, was in mourning.
The young man had planned to study law at Makerere University and become a lawyer, according to today's article in New Vision. But last week he got a headache, and was subsequently taken to a clinic on Thursday. When his condition did not improve he was taken to the (infamous) Mulago hospital, where he died at 1am on Friday morning. The medical report stated that he had died of "sinuses".
All I can wonder is WHY?? While it is possible to die of sinusitis, it is very rare, and usually due to the condition going untreated or undiagnosed, or complicated by another more pernicious illness. In any case, I do not understand how or why this happened. In the absence of contradictory evidence, I can only conclude that Uganda's deplorable public health system has let down yet another bright star.
RIP Isaac Bunkedeko.
2 comments:
On another note, have you heard about Uganda's plan to sell their own ARVs? What do you think about that?
Yes I have. It is a good idea in theory. Self-sufficiency has obvious benefits (especially when the Global Fund refuses to renew your grant based on corruption scandals). That being said, of all the things to invest in within the health sector, I am not sure that ARV production should be one of the highest priorities. Infant/child/maternal mortality is a much bigger concern and the cause of many more deaths than HIV/AIDS, but donor interest in AIDS has distorted Uganda's own health priorities. I think this is the much larger problem. Not to mention that I am unsure whether Quality Chemicals will live up to their promises. The plant has already taken ages to get up and running.
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