SOMEWHERE
ON THE KAMPALA-GULU HIGHWAY …
It is 3.30 am, and I am not only out of my bed but extremely exhausted.
This is not something new. However, the fact that I am about 400 km from where
I set out to be the day before is all the more frustrating!! I feel like I have
been to hell and back. My head is pounding. A dull monotonous rhythmic thud,
like a motor and pestle making peanut paste in Owino market. My body is aching
even in places I didn’t know could ache. But my work is not done yet. Through
half closed eyes I finally see the Red Cross Volunteer wheeling a blood stained
stretcher for the injured nurses crammed into the Prado-cum-Ambulance that I
have parked at the Mulago Hospital Casualty Ambulance area. One of the nurses has
multiple rib fractures ( I don’t know how many), another has head injury with raccoon
eyes and multiple lacerations over her very puffy face, another has severe back
pain and lacerations on her legs, the fourth is complaining of chest pain with dyspnoea
and the fifth nurse is supposedly “okay”.
My story
starts on 9th May 2013. After a morning meeting that day, I found myself the designated
driver of a newly donated vehicle of the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union
(UNMU) that would be transporting the who-is-who of Nursing in Uganda for a
combined celebration of Florence Nightingale’s birthday (Destrebecq &
Belotti, 2010; Hayes & Ball, 2012), the Uganda Nurses Annual Scientific Conference and the International
Nurses Day Celebration in Gulu district.
You see I was not even the Organization’s Professional driver
but the Program Coordinator for Uganda Wellness Centre. The actual driver was
on suspension following some disciplinary issues. We had planned for a 3:00 pm
departure from Kampala, however, something at the service station about
“mechanical fault with suspension system that had to be fixed before the
journey” delayed us. There was no opting out. My passengers, you see, were the
who-is-who of Nursing in Uganda (UNMU
President and the Commissioner Health Services Nursing MoH et al). I literary had the opening ceremony with me.
7:30 pm, we were all set. Luggage and conference materials
packed securely on this new monster and enough excitement to last the next 5-6
hours of travel. It took us nearly 2
hours to do the 10 minute Mulago – Bwaise – Kawempe stretch but that didn’t
dampen our spirits. The radio speakers were blaring Congo’s best lingala KoffiOlomide,
JP Mpiana etc
By 12:30 am we were at the Gaaga bus stop-over near a Super
market in Migyera town for a short break. However, 20 minutes later, as I eased
the car back onto the Highway, the loudest hoot I ever heard followed by a
succession of flashing lights nearly made me jump out of my skin!! At over
120km per hours, this huge bus was flying over the narrow highway oblivious of
all other road users. I watched its tail lights grow smaller and smaller, as
the discussion in our car took a new turn - Road safety!!
These buses are notoriously reckless and everyone mentioned at
least a couple of different highway accidents involving buses. I had a
flashback of the 2010 accident where Hon. Prof. Ogenga Latigo’s car was knocked
and a young University student was killed. We condemned all the fears of accident
in the name of Jesus and drove on.
Five minutes later, as we approach a small town, something is amiss.
A small crowd has gathered around a huge odd looking shape. As we draw closer
we cannot believe our eyes!! The same bus that whizzed past us at Migyera is
now lying upside down, half inside a house by the road side. A child who was
fast asleep in the house had been instantly killed. It was dark, the passengers
are screaming, some wailing, others trying to pull themselves out of the bus wreckage-total
chaos!
One of the Town locals tells us the driver swerved to avoid a
head-on collision with a truck driving on the wrong side of the road. That
explained why the bus lay overturned about twenty meters on the right side of
the road. You see our neighbors, South Sudan and DR Congo, drive on the right
unlike us. (Business insider September 2014)[i].
Thankfully a police patrol vehicle arrived 5 minutes after us. We were confient
they would sort the situation out, and went on our way.
However, about 20 minutes after we receive a call from the UNMU
General Secretary informing us that some of the Nurses he expected from Mbarara
were involved in an accident around Migyera trading center. Some, he said, were
injured, one was missing and presumed dead. There was still no ambulance on
site and could we try to find and assist them? It was the same scene we had
just left, and we had to turn back. By the time we got there, all passengers
had been put on another bus heading for Kampala. Some of the patients, however,
required medical attention. The nearest Health center was locked. My original Gulu
bound passengers had to disembark-we were scooping and running back to Mulago
hospital in Kampala.
In Mulago hospital, I joined the casualty team in stabilizing
the nurses before driving back to Migyera town. We finally got to Gulu town at
8.30 am. However, other than missing the 5 nurses ( who all recovered well), we
had a wonderful conference and commemoration. And I was able to make my presentation
on “the relevance of nursing research in Uganda in the 21st century”
at 11.00 am.
Uganda does not have a
structured EMS system. However, a lot of work is being done in the Ministry of
Health for the start of the Üganda National Ambulance service”. We will give
details about this as and when they unfold.
However, until then, prevention
is our best “treatment”
REFERENCE
[i]South
Sudan Bus Crash Kills At Least 32, Mainly Ugandans: Reuters: SEP. 29, 2014,
10:38 AM, 26, JUBA (Reuters) - At least 32 people were killed and 10 seriously
injured when a bus collided with a cargo truck in southern South Sudan,
hospital officials said on Monday. Officials said it was still not clear what
caused the accident early on Monday morning on a road that links the capital of
South Sudan, Juba, to Uganda. Police spokesman James Monday Enocka told a news
conference the majority of the dead were Ugandan citizens. Traffic accidents
are common in the world's newest country, where buses are the main form of
public transport between towns and roads are often poor. http://www.businessinsider.com/r-south-sudan-bus-crash-kills-at-least-32-mainly-ugandans-2014-9
By Cliff Aliga Asher
No comments:
Post a Comment