Though in the normal procedure, the body of Kaaya would have been taken to a mortuary, the lack of one at Buvuma Health Centre IV forced the medical staff to vacate the doctor’s examination room to create space for its storage, where it stayed for the whole day.
Bakaluba Ayimirizza Akakiiko Akagaba Emirimu – Birimu Okutunda Emirimu
Residents in Buvuma islands have petitioned the government to expedite President Museveni’s pledge of upgrading Buvuma Health Centre IV to a hospital status with all accompanying facilities including a mortuary.
Under the prevailing circumstances they complained, dead bodies are kept in premises simultaneously used for treatment of patients, which they argue, is traumatizing and keeps patients away from seeking medical services.
The anomaly came to light last week following the death of a man who was hacked to death by his wife after the two developed a domestic misunderstanding.
The late Zebia Kaaya and his wife Norah Namiiro of Bukambe village in Nairambi sub-county, Buvuma district, are said to have been engaging in habitual quarrels and in the immediate circumstances, in the night of July 3, 2025, Namiiro picked a machete during one such scuffle and fatally cut her husband.
Bukambe village chairperson, David Kasirye said the 46-year-old Namiiro called him in the wee hours of the night at around 3:00am and informed him that he had cut his 50-year-old husband Kaaya, and requested him to help rush him to hospital.
Kaaya was rushed to Buvuma Health Centre IV, however, by the time they reached the facility, Kasirye said that the medical personnel told them that he had already succumbed to the injuries.
Though in the normal procedure, the body of Kaaya would have been taken to a mortuary, the lack of one at Buvuma Health Centre IV forced the medical staff to vacate the doctor’s examination room to create space for its storage, where it stayed for the whole day.
It was after the doctor who had a busy day fixed time to carry out a postmortem examination and the deceased’s body was formally handed over to its relatives that took it home to start arranging for burial.
Following this development, Buvuma leaders have expressed concern and asked the government to step in and create change.
Buvuma district chairperson, Adrian Wasswa Ddungu lamented that although President Museveni had over the last ten years promised to have Buvuma Health Centre IV upgraded to a hospital status, no step towards realization of this has been seen to be put on the ground, the fact notwithstanding that even this political term is fast approaching its end.
As a district, Ddungu said, they have procured land and fenced it off in readiness for the upgrade of the facility to the hospital status which he noted, will come with all facilities including a mortuary.
‘It’s unfortunate that what is not happening anywhere else, can be witnessed in Buvuma, where the dead share rooms with patients, something which is so traumatizing; it is only Buvuma district that survives in such circumstances,’ he said.
Bukambe village chairperson, Kasirye said it is not uncommon to see bodies covered with tarpaulins on the health unit’s verandahs, which he noted is traumatizing, humiliating and inhuman.
He observed that although a person may be gone, his body still deserves respect and should therefore be stored with some degree of dignity up to the time of sendoff; this he added, is only possible with availability of a mortuary.
He asked the government to consider putting up a mortuary even before working on modernities to have the facility uplifted to a hospital status.
And the LC II chairman for Busamuzi parish, Aloysius Ssemwogerere said there is need for the government to step in and bring to an end this frightening state of affairs.
The Assistant officer in-charge of Buvuma Health Centre IV, Dr. Crispus Nkoyoyo noted that death is inevitable and that as such, due preparations for the dead should be unconditionally set in place.
Dr. Nkoyoyo added that today, many patients have shunned seeking medical services for fear of being made to be served alongside dead bodies.
Buvuma district NRM spokesperson, Deo Miiro Mpiso echoed the foregoing speakers, noting that Buvuma Health Centre IV has a wide catchment area given the fact that it is the only referral facility in the district implying that death is inevitable in such a situation.
Therefore, Miiro added, provision of a mortuary is very essential.
Buvuma district comprises 52 islands, nine sub-counties and two town councils. Ddungu, the district chairperson said that though it is a government policy for each sub-county to have a Health Centre III, they have a number of sub-counties which are missing a single government health facility.
Buvuma deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Patrick Mubiru said very soon the government will respond to the outcries of the locals because they are always detailing the shortfalls to the relevant ministries, the Office of the Presidency inclusive.