Mbarara Referral Hospital Management has expressed grief over the untimely death of Dr. Rukia Abiru, a Senior House Officer (SHO) who had been pursuing a master’s degree in Anesthesiology.
Addressing the media, Dr. Celestine Barigye, the Director of Mbarara Referral Hospital, who also serves as the Director of Health Services in the region, disclosed that Dr. Abiru’s death was not only a shock to MRRH but also to the entire nation at large.
Dr. Barigye reported that the deceased had been attached to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where patients in need of critical care services are managed. According to Dr. Barigye, the deceased, who hailed from Lira, had been a hard-working doctor, and they had high expectations for her.
Dr. Barigye spoke to the media alongside Halson Kagure, the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital Public Relations Officer, who disclosed that the deceased had been well and was expected on duty. According to PRO Kagure, around 11:00 am, one of Dr. Rukia’s colleagues at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital called her to inquire about something, but the call went unanswered.
“At last, the phone was answered by another person who happened to have been next to her and informed the caller that Dr. Lukia was unconscious,” Kagure said.
Then, Dr. Barigye added that they dispatched an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) team led by Dr. Emma Munyarugyero, who rushed to her residence along Bananuka Road, opposite Oxford Inn in Mbarara City. However, the team couldn’t do much to save her as she had already breathed her last. She was found lying on her back on her deathbed.
At the Pathology Department, where her body was rushed, the mood was somber. Her colleagues watched helplessly as the body of their colleague was rushed into the mortuary. Halson Kagure said that pathologists will conduct an autopsy to ascertain the actual cause of death. The deceased will be buried today at her ancestral home in Lira district.
