My Ugandan friend had a motorbike accident. The treatment he received when we went to Accident and Emergency at Mulago Hospital was unbelievable.

This is a true story.

And this story is not abnormal in Mulago Public Hospital in Kampala, Uganda.

My friend was thought to have 2 broken legs and a broken arm. He was bleeding from his arm, head and leg. He was in shock. This is what was waiting for him at the Accident and Emergency ward at Mulago Public Hospital, which is run by the Ugandan government...

 

Bandages were only available on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It was a Sunday.

There was only one doctor present in the whole of Accident and Emergency, whose working conditions are so bad that he seemed to have lost the value of human life.

My friend waited for 2 hours, bleeding, on the floor of A & E, with 2 predicted broken legs and a broken arm, without being seen by ANY medical personnel.

Wheelchairs are locked up at the back of the room. Nobody has the key. My friend had to be carried into hospital by his friends.

You have money to bribe the doctor, otherwise you would not be seen, despite there being a sign that said "All treatment is free".

HIV is transmitted because women are giving birth in pools of other womens' blood. Beds are not cleaned between births.

My friend's mother was taken to the morgue after being involved in a bus accident. She was presumed dead. But she was still ALIVE.

Another one of my friends has cervical cancer. She went to Mulago hospital in the hope of being treated. She lived there, on the floor, for 2 WEEKS, received NO treatment and saw NO medical personnel because she did not have the money to bribe the staff.

There is no ambulance service.

 

The state of this hospital is appauling. And we want people to know about it. So the situation can be improved.

 

Their website does not reflect my experience, to say the least: http://www.mulago.or.ug/