Yesterday, I confirmed what I have always heard about Mulago Hospital. It was my first time to step there, but what I found was quite sickening: the place looked so awful. As I walked around, I bumped into
a rubbish area; my heart is even about to pop out as I type this as the memory of it is just nauseating.

Spills of blood, used cotton and used syringes litter the place, oh, how stinked! Then I entered some building, not sure if it’s the new Mulago, in the tunnel that led me to Block 4C oh my God; the place is terribly smelly!

I saw a group of women who were just from giving birth. They groaned in pain as they moved from block 5 to 4 - to take a rest. Some women were seen sleeping on black mattresses down on the floor, no beds for them, and the sight of all this made me cry for my dear Mulago.

Despite the fact that the government is doing renovations at the hospital, I think it is wrong for
it to be done with patients around moreover those on admission. The noise, smell of paint can cause more sickness to the patients.

Patients complain too, but I think their weak voices are never heard. I happened to talk to a few people I found at the hospital and they shared their agonizing stories. Some told me of how the hospital changed, Another woman told meme about the system of first going to Kiruddu Hospital along Saalama Road which is tiring, and the fact that they have to pay money for services is challenging for them.

Others complained of bribery as manifested by some doctors. Some patients say that they come so early and wait for doctors in their queues, but some people, whom they think have connections with doctors, just come and pass, leaving them to wait for longer than they had expected. This and makes those who are bypassed to think as though their illnesses are not as serious. This must stop.

I think the hospital management and the government at large should build up an incinerator to burn up the used medical equipment and not expose them in places where
the public can see them, because they disgust.

The government should also build up a better and bigger ward for women who have given birth to
take a rest before they can be discharged. If possible the hospital should be cleaned up all the time, because the floors on which the mothers sleep are dirty.

Some serious steps should be taken to being to halt all these serious issues, otherwise, all I can say is my experience at Mulago was the worst nightmare dressed in a day dream .

The writer is a Journalism and Communication student at Makerere University