WUNRN
UGANDA - LANDMARK CASE
ON MATERNAL DEATHS
By Jocelyn Edwards
Anguko’s death, now the subject
of a ground-breaking lawsuit against the government, is not an isolated
incident. Sixteen women die in childbirth each day in
“From the time when she arrived
at the hospital at 9 a.m. up to the time when she died, she was not even asked
anything by one of the nurses or any medical personnel. The nurses were
just passing by,” said Anguko’s husband Valente Inziku. His wife and
unborn baby died last October in a hospital in Arua in
“She said, ‘Sisters, we are all
women. Can’t you come and help me?’ But they told me and the
attendant to clean the blood. We were the ones who were doing all
that. They never even touched her,” said Inziku. The unborn baby
would have been the couple’s fourth child.
The lawsuit, filed in March on
behalf of Anguko’s family and the family of another woman, Sylvia Nalubowa,
aims to hold the government responsible in their deaths. The case is
expected to be heard in early September.
The case is the first of its
kind in
“We want the court to
declare that the death of women in childbirth in
For every 100,000 live births
in
Many maternal deaths in the
east African nation are avoidable, the result of lack of medical supplies,
personnel or facilities, say activists. A report on Anguko’s death by the
hospital said there were not enough staff on duty on the day she died.
Only one midwife was present; three other women facing obstetrical emergencies
also passed away the same day, according to the report.
Government hospitals in
“I’ve traveled all over
“The many mothers who are dying
every day are dying because [the government] is not doing what it is supposed
to do,” she said.
The Ugandan government has
argued that Anguko’s death should be addressed by the professional disciplinary
bodies of the doctors and nurses involved. “We think the deaths are
actually (the result of) individual misbehaviour which cannot be blamed on the
government,” said Patricia Mutesi, a lawyer from the attorney general’s office.
The state lawyer further argues
that the government is constrained in its ability to provide healthcare by
“You cannot say that the
government has violated the rights of people if the situation is caused by the
economics of the country. The fact of the matter is that this is a poor
country,” said Mutesi.
In addition to the lawsuit over
the deaths, activists have petitioned the constitutional court to compel the
government to put more money towards health care in
Jennifer Anguko’s
husband, now the sole caretaker of the couple’s three children, places at least
part of the blame for what happened to his wife and baby on the government.
“That is a regional referral
hospital. It is the government who employed the staff; it is the
government who should monitor and supervise the roles of the staff there,” he
said. “The government is advocating that women go to deliver in the
hospitals and health centres. The facilities are there but when we go to
the facilities there, the services are not provided.”