Self Medication Condemned As Bethesda Hospital Makes 10 Years Of Existence

On Thursday, hundreds of well-wishers from within Uganda and abroad converged at Soroti City-based Bethesda Hospital to celebrate 10 years the highly specialized private health facility’s existence and also witness the launch of the facility’s telemedicine unit or center.

 This is only Uganda’s second of its kind the other one being at Kabale RRH in South Western Uganda. Aimed at leveraging technology to bring access to super specialized medical services nearer to the people, who are already financially struggling and can't afford expensive medication abroad or in Kampala, the two telemedicine centers’ establishment is being funded by Global Offsite Care, an organization based in California, USA.

Existence of such game-changing technology at Bethesda Hospital will enable thousands of economically vulnerable Ugandans in greater Eastern Uganda to access super specialized medical professionals, senior consultants and specialists from all over the world. According to Bethesda proprietor Dr. Juventile Emuku, the same telemedicine technology is a game-changer for patients in emergency conditions who may not be able to promptly effect their recommended referral to better health facilities, because of the general lack of effective emergency health care capabilities in Uganda, a country that generally lacks an effective ambulance services system.

 During the Thursday event, guests listened to speeches from different speakers including Soroti West City area MP Jonathan Ebwalu who was chief guest, the area RCC, the clergy, patients or parents who have delivered babies at the hospital since 2014 and therefore have good testimonies to share and finally Mzee Charles Elesu (Presidential Advisor and Soroti NRM Chairman) who commended the Emukus and also explained why Uganda today experiences more rampant deaths than was the case during the days of his youth.

 That in a whole year, his village would lose like one person or none at all unlike today when death is rampant to the extent that some people have wailed and come to a point of not being able to grieve anymore. A much-respected senior citizen in Soroti City, Mzee Elesu explained that self-medication, which people have resorted to for lack of money to go to hospitals, is one cause of rampant deaths because a lot of the patients end up relying on inappropriate medication which only escalates the illness into death.

 He implored health professionals like those employed at Bethesda to create some CSR-like time to sensitize community members in Teso on the dangers of reliance on self-medication which he said was rampant and only making things more complicated.

That the rapidly-growing population in Uganda (nearly 46m compared to mere 6m of Mzee Elesu's youth days), which makes the available health facilities inadequate and overstretched, is another cause of growing deaths. Elesu said this can only be tackled through growing government investment into public health.

 He said many Ugandans are sick, largely because they have refused to prioritize regular medical check-ups (which the Emukus emphasized in their speeches) which is why the country is now full of what the free-talking Elesu called ‘walking coffins and corpses.’ Mzee Elesu disagreed with Dr. Emuku’s earlier observation that medical checkup was being shunned because of widespread poverty. The old man said he knows of many wealthy Itesots in Teso sub region who are so wealthy and live in houses of Shs150m-200m but have never undertaken a single medical checkup in their entire life.

 He said this is largely due to indifference and lack of awareness regarding the extent to which NCDs is a wide spread and big problem for Uganda. Elesu agreed with the Emukus on the ideal thing being carrying out medical checkups every three months. Mzee Elesu also castigated what he called false Born Again prophets who have resorted to using their churches as centers for confusion mongering.

That in the entire Teso, especially women are gullible and take everything their pastor says for gospel truth. That many such pastors’ teachings over-spiritualise everything to the extent that sick people are discouraged from going to hospital in favor of miracles and waiting upon the healing hand of God. That when a church member falls sick, they are told those are evil spirits of their clans and ancestors tormenting them yet in most cases, there is always a medical cause and explanation which could easily be mitigated if such sick people went to hospital on good time.

 Mzee Elesu said the way some of these false prophets teach makes them to seem synonymous with sorcery and witch-craft. He commended Dr. Emuku, who is also a pastor at whose Bethesda hospital is even a chapel to enable patients go for regular prayers, for not being among such false prophets who disbelieve modern medicine and end up misleading their gullible followers into fatal decision-making, leading to would-be avoidable deaths.

Indeed, as he made his point, Mzee Elesu said he was able to see some ladies and women in the audience quietly protesting his criticism against such kiwaani pastors whose misleading teachings are currently a problem for not only Teso but the whole country. “Somebody clearly has pneumonia and ends up being told no it’s your neighbor and some evil spirits from your clan and let’s just pray and fast,” Elesu sarcastically said causing laughter.

 He added that he recently took advantage of a well-attended burial ceremony to challenge the miracle-working powers such false pastors claim to have and all of them fled instead of confronting and proving him wrong. Selfishness and indifference on part of especially married men, who are supposed to be bread winners for their family members, was also referenced. Mzee Elesu said that many such family heads spend their day in the trading centers at a bar where they booze and feast on pork while leaving their children and wives to thrive on poorly-cooked vegetables.

That this leads to malnutrition among family members and diminishes their body immunity while increasing their susceptibility to all manner of disease and ill health.