Uganda: Man strips naked in protest of poor health service
By Nangayi Guyson – A Man in Uganda’s Buyende district known to be Mr Vincent Onyango undressed himself in public before doctors in protest over poor government health facility services and unfair demands from medics at the facility centers.
Mr Vincent Onyango who took the boy he adopted after he found him dumped in a dust bin for treatment, got infuriated after a hospital staff asked him for gloves before they could attend to a three-year-old child who was dying of pain from wound.
In his statement, Onyango, said,“I am a good Samaritan sympathizing with this innocent boy with septic wounds and a ripe boil,” Mr Onyango told whoever cared to listen, “This is a government facility and you ask me for gloves! Since when did we manufacture gloves like cassava in our villages?” he shouted as he discarded his trousers and shirt and walked in protest to the Kidera Police Post.
Kidera LC3 chairman Paul Mwanga supported the protesters as a crowd gathered and testified that the health unit was rotting. But Mr Muwanga regretted that the actions had done a disservice to the locals.
The Medical officer, Dr Anthony Okiror, said they have not got any supplies for over eight months. “But patients think we want to take bribes for services,” he said in defence of his staff.
The man only accepted to dress up after residents mobilised 10 pairs of gloves and the child was attended to. He was regarded a hero who had managed to finally expose the rot in the health service delivery.
His experience comes out as an eloquent illustration of the dire state of most government hospitals and health centres.
In Uganda, the government decided to offer free health services to its Citizens but the services has failed to meet expectations.
Many Hospitals and health units lack equipments and this has caused the Citizens to accuse health personnels for always diverting government health services to own private health centers in order to get money from them since private health center charge for health services.
