A nurse in Butaleja has died in a traditional shrine while seeking treatment for an undiagnosed disease.
Silvia Hasahya, a nurse attached to Busolwe hospital in Butaleja district died on Sunday at a shrine where she had been admitted for two days. Hasahya died from the shrine of Balam Muyeye, who is also the defense secretary of Nawandyo village.
According to her sister Rachel Namanja, the deceased has been struggling with an unknown illness for the last one week. She said that when her sister started to feel unwell, she was admitted to Butaleja hospital and when her condition worsened, she was referred to Mt Elgon hospital in Mbale, where again the doctors failed to diagnose her sickness.
Although the hospital gave her some medication, Namanja says their mother advised Hasahya to seek the help of a traditional healer. Muyeye says the deceased complained of chest pains but his diagnosis found that she was possessed with evil spirits.
The area district councilor Wyclif Mutono says that when the deceased was taken to Mbale, tests were conducted and she was found with no illness including Covid-19 which everyone thought the nurse had contracted.
Mutono wondered how a professional nurse would end up in a shrine to seek treatment from an unqualified personnel. John Wamalwa, the chairperson of the Butaleja District Traditional Healers' Association confirmed that Hashaya died in the shrine of one of his members.
He condemned the traditional healers who have continued to operate their businesses despite the lockdown and threatened to engage the police to crack down on all such healers.
Bukedi South police spokesperson, Moses Mugwe said that the police is still investigating the circumstances surrounding Hashya's death.
"We are in a lockdown, no person is supposed to move from one place to another, so how could anyone have ended up in a shrine for treatment yet we have health facilities around?" he wondered.
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