Insufficient Medical Personnel and Expensive Drugs Hampering Treatment of PWDS.

KABALE: Health Service Providers in Kabale District have decried lack of enough medical experts to handle People Living with Disabilities, expensive treatment and insufficient reserve centres to fix mobility appliances.

This was revealed during commissioning of the Shs. 3 billion donor funded Rehabilitation Centre named Cherished and Redeemed Ministries, in Rwamukundi Cell Kirigime Ward, Southern Division, Kabale Municipality; whose core mission is to provide free physiotherapy, orthopedic services and occupational therapy to children with physical and mental disabilities.

According to Mr. Richard Namara the Project Manager at Cherished and Redeemed Ministries, the multiple disability prevalence rate in Kigezi sub-region was at 13%, which is highest, compared to 4-6% in other sub-regions of Western Uganda.

However, while addressing the guests including Local Authorities at the ceremony, Mr. Justus Buhisya a Senior Occupational therapist from Kabale Regional Referral Hospital said that Government had deployed only 11 specialists to handle a population of up to 1.7 million PWDs in South Western Uganda, as of May 2024. 

“In the entire region, there’s only one Orthopedic Technologist who also has no functioning workshop for fixing mobility aids, such as wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, canes, crutches, prosthetic devices, and orthotic devices, used by these people,” Buhisya added.

He called upon local leaders to advocate for increased budgeting aimed at improving access to health services for PWDs at all Government levels.

Mr. Naboth Muhumuza, Orthopedic Technologist at Cherished and Redeemed Ministries, said that Diagnosis and Treatment of Children with Mental Disabilities was very expensive, and before their intervention most of the victims had stayed untreated because the caregivers could not meet the costs involved.

“For example in Uganda, a Computed tomography Scan- CT Scan or  Magnetic Resonance Imaging- MRI Scan to study  the damages on Child’s brain,  costs Shs. 350,000 and Shs. 750,000 respectively; while consultation from a pediatric specialist ranges from Shs. 100,000 to Shs. 200,00.” He said.

Mr. Muhumuza further explained that drugs used by children with cerebral palsy are also expensive, with each tablet of Sodium valproate needed to calm down seizures caused by epilepsy or bipolar disorder, costing between Shs. 3000 and 8000.

He added that treatment can take between six months to 2 years.

The founder of Redeemed and Cherished Ministries, Ms. Girnet Cornelia who is an occupational therapist revealed that the idea to establish the Rehabilitation Centre in Kabale Municipality was inspired by her visit to homes of children with disabilities in Kigezi about three years ago, at the invitation of Mr. James King Bagyenzi, a local filmmaker and Executive Director of REEL Impact Films.

“I had been in Uganda extending charity services to the Batwa Community from 2015, and King was making documentaries. So, he invited me to visit the homes of these children, and indeed we found them with multiple illnesses that required treatment. I had no resources, so I wrote proposals and sent them (to people at) home (in Michigan, USA). They bought the idea, and supported me to make this a reality,” she said.

The Project Legal consultant, Counsel Naturinda Eliab Mporera commended the local authorities in Kabale Municipality for offering maximum cooperation to the Project Management as they established the rehabilitation centre.

He asked the Political leadership of Kabale District to lobby for more funding for such projects, adding that the number of people who need the services was increasing annually.

Kabale District Deputy Speaker Ronald Ian Mugisha, Southern Division LC.3 Chairperson Mackline Batware, and her Central Division Counterpart Sam Arinaitwe, all pledged total support to the Cherished and Redeemed Ministries, as the project carries out activities to help Children with Disabilities, especially at the rehabilitation centre.

The project statistics indicate that they are taking care of 160 children with Disabilities, from 69 families across the Kigezi Sub-region.

Support to the children include clearing bills for diagnosis, treatment, and routine therapy, provision of mobility aids, economic support to the children’s caregivers, among others.