The Amin regime (1971 – 1978)of terror had forced many doctors and other health workers out of the country, fleeing for their dear lives. He had no hesitation to eliminate anyone he considered a threat, such as intellectuals. That created a severe shortage of health workers to care for them when they fell sick or got injured. The economy took a nose dive resulting in shortage of everything including medicines and medical supplies. The health infrastructure also crumbled.
Even when the regime was toppled in 1978 the insecurity that followed made moving especially at night extremely dangerous. So high was the number of people who had only me to run to, when disaster struck, that I had two benches made for patients to sit on waiting for me at our house when I came back in the evenings. As if that was not bad enough, a time came when some terrorist group started killing doctors at point blank range, only because they were doctors. This forced even the few of us that were still sticking toitto leave the country. Although I was scared stiff for my own life, I said to my wife that even if I woke up safe in the morning but found that someone had died on our door step I would not know how to live with myself. Together we agreed that whenever someone knocked seeking for help we would open and do for them whatever we could.One night a woman in desperately in need for medical help knocked on the door of a doctor colleague of mine. He said to her from behind the closed door, Madam I am sorry I don’t open for patients at night, but the doctor in house number 26 does”. That doctor in house number 26 was me and I counted my colleague’s words as a great recommendation.
As you will see from the annual reports, the numbers of people accessing health care from St. Stephen’s Hospital has been steadily growing every year. The number and complexity of the conditions treated has grown. It is therefore necessary to expand the hospital to meet the current higher demand and the future demands that are sure to be even greater as a consequence of rapid population growth, rural – urban migration, the expanding Kampala metropolis and the growing reputation of the hospital – the result better reviews and recommendations by satisfied clients.
When a child was rushed to me with febrile convulsions and I had run out of anticonvulsant medicine, I would hold it in a recovery position to make sure it did not aspirate, should it throw up, until the convulsions stopped. On the other hand, if someone came to me bleeding as a result of a “panga” machete attack I would sit him or lay him down in my study and stitch the wound, most times without any anaesthesia. It would hurt some but his life would be saved, when the bleeding was controlled. One of the victims of such attacks, whom I was called to see one night, was the Namasole – Bagala Ayaze, when she was attacked at her home and shot several times. Despite the fact that no one knew whether or not the thugs had gone we walked through the night and came to her rescue. She is the lady who later gave 2 acres of land on which the hospital is built.
Most Sundays I always attended service at St. Stephen’s Church of Uganda, Mpererwe. It was while there in 1987,a pastoral letter from the Bishop was read to us in the congregation. It was urging every church in the diocese to start an income generating project to supplement the income from giving by the faithful. The congregation of St. Stephen’s Church of Uganda chose to start a hospital, as I was later to find out.
In 1981 I had led a group of friends – calling ourselves, “The Friendly Hands” had gone to a rural village called Bwalula in Iganga District and helped the community there to establish a health centre where there was none for miles around. That health centre is still operational to this day, despite the fact that only two of us are still alive today and have no capacity to keep offering it the close supervision we once did. It is now managed by the local government of Mayuge District. Words of praise for that work had reached the ears of the Christians in St Stephen’s Church. So when it came to selecting someone to lead them in starting aproject, the Christians of St Stephen’s Church of Uganda picked on me. In my acceptance speech, I asked them what project they wanted to start. They unanimously said, Ddwaliro (Hospital), believing as they did that I know how to start such projects and it was possible to get money from running a private hospital.
Starting such a difficult, capital intensive project. The more I discouraged them the more resolved they became. I soon was to find out that their insistence was the result of the difficulties they were meeting while trying to access health care for them and their families.
While I was still thinking up new ways of dissuading them from a starting a hospital project, walking down Lasto Lukoma Road I overtook a fully pregnant woman warbling slowly. When I looked behind I was shocked to find that the lady was no longer following. She was lying on the ground under a mango tree and was actually having her baby right there by the road side. The nearest health facility, Mulago Hospital was too far to help her. A week or so later, while walking from Mpererwe trading centre, I met a woman who With despair written all over her face, was walking as fast as she could with her baby’s limp head and legs dangling. As she reached me, her baby died just in front of me. I needed no more persuasion. This community needed a health facility and needed it yesterday.
We started in rented premises with a Clinician, a tin of Paracetamol, using a torch as our otoscope Back in church the following Sunday I recounted what I had witnessed and started drumming up action to start St. Stephen’s Hospital. I would have wanted to start small with a clinic or health centre, but they insisted that Hospital was their goal.
St. Stephen’s Hospital began in a rented house near the church. Every Sunday I would stand in front of the congregation and encourage their generous contribution to the cause. They gave as much as they could but not enough to prevent the project sliding into debt. The rent was in arrears, staff salaries were a big problem and medicines were always in short supply. One evening Mr. Suubi Birungi and I visited Namasole BagalaAyaze at her home and explained to her what we were trying to do and asked her if she could give us some land on which to build the hospital. She agreed and the following day took us and showed us the land which she had donated and on which the hospital now stands. Determined to succeed, members of the congregation lost no time to start making bricks and clearing the bush. As soon as the bricks were fired and ready we started constructing the first building which now houses the Outpatient department (consultation rooms, dental surgery, laboratory, office and seminar room). .
While all that was unfolding, the financial problems of the hospital were mounting. It was in 1994 that, through a friend David Dufty(RIP),we were connected to a family trust, “The Mrs. L. D. Rope Third Charitable Settlement” located in Ipswich in the United Kingdom. When we had narrated to them our predicament they agreed to grant to St. Stephen’s GBP 3,000 twice a year to support the nurse’s salaries and the purchase of drugs. I am glad to say that it is now 24 years and the Rope Trust has not reneged on their commitment. Instead their contribution has steadily increased and also included additional funds that have made it possible for St Stephen’s Hospital to equip the maternity labour suit and ward, the rest of the wards, the operating theatre, the staff residence, (Rope House), an ambulance, dental clinic and most recently an X-Ray unit.
Also in 1994 while on a fellowship in Canada, I learnt about the three “Rs” of community development. The first R represents Relocation. You can more effectively develop a community if you relocate into that community. I relocated my family into this community and now reside among them in Namere Zone. The second R stands for Redistribution. I have done everything possible to mobilize resources from far and wide for development projects in this community. The last R is for Reconciliation. This is work in progress, since impoverished communities can feel bitterness against anyone they consider to be more advantaged than them. We have seen great improvement in social harmony as life in the community becomes more and more livable.
Many related projects have developed around the hospital. These include:
- The Good Samaritan, under which we now pay school fees and provide health care and scholastic materials to over 100 orphaned and vulnerable children.
- Send-a-cow started with help from the Rotary Club of Kololo and through which women are provided with a cow in-calf from which they get milk and income for their children. They give away the first heifer they get from the cow to another woman. Through this project over 100 women now own cows for zero grazing. Their lives have been greatly transformed.
- “Learning Through Play” through which parents and children care givers are taught to promote child development through playing with their children.
- The hospital also serves as a Makerere University College of Health Sciences centre for Community Based Education, Research and Service (COBERS) training.
- It is also rapidly developing in a very valuable centre for Global Health (a placement center for students and residents from other countries, trying to learn about tropical health problems and how health care is practiced in low resource settings)
We are grateful and deeply indebted to everyone who has contributed to the establishment, development and success of St. Stephen’s Hospital. It now plays an important role in the life of the community, bringing much-needed health care within easier reach of people from nearby and from places far away.
As you will see from the annual reports, the numbers of people accessing health care from St. Stephen’s Hospital has been steadily growing every year. The number and complexity of the conditions treated has grown. It is therefore necessary to expand the hospital to meet the current higher demand and the future demands that are sure to be even greater as a consequence of rapid population growth, rural – urban migration, the expanding Kampala metropolis and the growing reputation of the hospital – the result better reviews and recommendations by satisfied clients.