Africa-Press – Uganda. KAMPALA-
The mother of the baby that went missing after birth at Mulago hospital in 2012 has been compensated with Shs85m by the facility management after winning the court case.
Information from Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), a civil society organisation that helped the mother, Ms Jennifer Musimenta, to access justice, indicates that Ms Musimenta went to Mulago hospital on March 14, 2012, with labour pains and delivered a set of twins on the same day, but one of the babies mysteriously disappeared.
The organisation said the hospital informed the couple that the second baby was born dead but could not produce the dead body.
But on March 17, 2012, the hospital reportedly gave the couple a dead body, which they rejected because it was of a baby who had just died.
They revealed that the couple went ahead to do DNA tests, which confirmed that the body didn’t belong to the couple.A report filed in High Court yesterday by CEHURD indicates that Mulago has completed payment of Shs85m compensation to the parents.
“Ms Jennifer Musimenta and Mr Michael Mubangizi (baby’s father) are awarded Shs85m as general damages for the psychological torture, violation of their rights to health and access to information resulting from the disappearance of their baby at Mulago hospital,” the report reads.
This compensation follows the March 2017 ruling by High Court’s Justice Lydia Mugambe, where Mulago hospital was fined the said amount as general damages to the couple.
She also ordered that the hospital takes steps to ensure reliable and credible systems for the proper handling and movement of babies from the point a pregnant woman is admitted to the point she is discharged from the facility.
When contacted for a comment on the matter, Dr Rosemary Byanyima, the deputy director of Mulago hospital, said the case was being handled by the hospital executive director, Dr Baterena Byarugaba. We could not get a comment from Dr Byarugaba by press time.
