A grieving Irene Mulyagonja, former head of the Inspectorate of Government and now a judge of the Court of Appeal, told mourners at her late husband’s funeral service that Mulago, the national referral hospital, is a huge disappointment.

“I want to say that, yes, we have that hospital there. But I think it’s just a monument. You cannot take a CBC. And it takes 24 hours for you to get a result. And you are in 6B,” she said, referring to both the private wing and the Complete Blood Count.

Her comments, recorded in a video shot by Mulengera, a Kampala news site, must have shocked mourners as they illustrate how even middle-class Ugandans are getting frustrated by the dysfunctional national healthcare system.

“I have a story that I can tell about what I called our hospital tourism,” she said, narrating how she moved her patient from hospital to hospital in search of a well-equipped and affordable medical facility.

“We don’t have Mulago National Specialised Hospital. And I have to say this. John would not forgive me if I didn’t say it… Let him who has ears hear,” she said.

In 6B, the private wing, she said, the government cannot provide patients with a shot of insulin, “and in the same 6B, you can fail to find an NG tube”—used to feed patients who are gravely ill.

Justice Mulyagonja said her husband was first admitted at IHK but had to be transferred to Nsambya Hospital because of a huge bill. 

But at Nsambya, she said, the bill was still high, and she switched to Mulago before settling for Mukwaya General Hospital.

The judge’s experience is the clearest evidence yet of how the healthcare system is letting down Ugandans, rich and poor.

John Baptist Kakooza was a prominent lawyer and once served as corporation secretary of the National Social Security Fund.

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