Ailing Kawempe South Member of Parliament, Muhammad Ssegirinya will have to offer laundry services in the hospital where he continues to receive specialised treatment for poison related complications.
Ssegirinya was first flown out to Nairobi and then to Germany as his condition kept worsening. He has since been moved to Amsterdam Universitair Medische Centra (umc) Hospital, Netherlands, where he has been receiving treatment since August 10.
The facility has given him the option of cleaning the hospital or washing its bed sheets if he fails to pay the money.
The hospital resident internal medicine officer, Mr SJ Bogers, in a letter seen by this publication, said Mr Ssegirinya will continue to be their patient for at least another three weeks.
“The situation is worrying and I am only lucky that I am outside the country but if it was in Africa, I would be off treatment now. Here, they agreed to treat me and said if I fail to raise the money, I will clean the hospital and or wash the bed sheets. I told them to go ahead and save my life. I will do as they say,” he told Monitor last Saturday.
Parliament Deserts its Own When he Needs Them Most
Mr Ssegirinya has accused Parliament of abandoning him, saying it has not extended financial support for his treatment.
He said Parliament is supposed to cater for his medical bills as per sub section 3.5 of the Medical Insurance Scheme Guidelines for Members of Parliament which states : “The members shall be entitled to evacuation in the case of illness and or accident from any part of Uganda to an appropriate medical facility within or outside Uganda.”
Paragraph (II) of the same sub-section adds: “Should it be necessary, such a patient shall be evacuated by way of worldwide rescue cover in a medical emergency to medical hospitals/ facilities outside Uganda as shall be recommended by the medical practitioner(s)”.
Mr Ssegirinya said with the exception of buying him an air ticket to Nairobi, Parliament has never footed a single medical bill since his travel.
“I have spent my own money now amounting to Shs70 million on medical treatment in Nairobi and here in Germany. I don’t have any money with me, yet the hospital needs money. I don’t know what I will do now,” he said.
The Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Parliament, Mr Chris Obore, who was unreachable for comment yesterday, told Daily Monitor recently that Parliament cannot abandon its members.
“If he [a lawmaker] is in the country, there is medical insurance and if it is outside, the Parliament funds their medical bill upon clearance by the Parliament medical board…I don’t know whether he went after the clearance or before. But if he went before, the medical board will clear and then money will be released,” he said on August 12.
Poison or Cancer?
In the most recent interview with Kampala Central MP Mohammad Nsereko, the audibly struggling NUP Lawmaker is heard revealing that the cause of his hospitalisation has been diagnosed to be skin cancer and lung injuries. This account directly contrasts the one given by daily Monitor, rising more questions than answers.
In that particular interview, Ssegirinya reiterates his disappointment with Parliament for abandoning him in time of need, prompting Nsereko to suggest fundraising for his ailing comrades treatment. Nsereko also contributed 5 million shillings to help in the meantime are arrangements for further assistance continue.
