Ugandans Fight for the Right to Access Their Own Medical Records

Michael Mubangizi (l) and his wife Jennifer Musimenta (r) with their daughter Babirye. They do not know what happened to Babirye’s twin whose body disappeared after Musimenta gave birth in Uganda’s national referral hospital. Credit: Amy Fallon/IPSBy Amy FallonKAMPALA, Mar 27 2014 (IPS) Dressed in a white dress with black polka dots and pink and red carnations, white knee-high socks and matching patent shoes, Babirye recently celebrated her second birthday.  “She’s doing well, eating well,” Jennifer Musimenta told IPS in Uganda’s local Luganda language as her husband, Michael Mubangizi, acted as a translator. It is an unwritten policy in Ugandan health facilities that patients were never given access to their own medical records. “But I’m always thinking about the second child, whether she’s alive or not alive, because I don’t know the truth. I’m always worried.” The child she’s referring to is Babirye’s sister. In Luganda, Babirye means the first-born of female twins. Twins are seen as a special blessing among Ugandan families. Mubangizi had a set on his father’s side before his wife gave birth to two girls on Mar. 14, 2012, at Mulago Hospital. The couple did not know they were expecting twins until Musimenta delivered at Mulago, which is Uganda’s national referral hospital and the country’s largest health facility based in the capital, Kampala. But within minutes of Musimenta giving birth to the second child, whom they named Nakato, whic...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Africa Crime & Justice Development & Aid Featured Headlines Health Human Rights Poverty & MDGs Regional Categories TerraViva United Nations Women's Health Centre for Health Centre for Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) Inequal Source Type: news