By Sadique Bamwita
KAMPALA
High court in Kampala has fined Kibuli Muslim Hospital Shs147 million in damages to Jaridah Kyofuna following the death of her newborn baby. The fine arose after court found management of the health facility guilty of negligence in the management of the child’s healthcare.
Court heard that Kyofuna attended antenatal care at Kibuli Muslim Hospital from August 2018 until delivery, under the supervision of Dr. Dickens Aturwanaho and other members of the obstetric team. It’s reported that her pregnancy progressed well with no recorded complications.
On October 5, 2018, she delivered a baby boy, who was named Jibreal Jumah Sewankambo, through a successful caesarean section. Both the mother and child were returned to the ward in stable condition, and the baby reportedly began breastfeeding normally.
However, trouble emerged the following night when the baby developed respiratory distress. Kyofuna sought urgent medical attention but unfortunately she never succeeded as there was no doctor to attend to the child until the morning of October 7, 2018.
By the time the baby was reviewed and admitted to the neonatal nursery, he was found to be anaemic and thrombocytopenic, with doctors making a provisional diagnosis of haemorrhagic disease of the newborn.
Court documents indicate that compatible donor blood could not be obtained from the hospital or nearby facilities. Acting on the advice of consultant neonatologist, Dr. Margaret Nakakeeto Kijjambu, the medical team performed an emergency direct blood transfusion using the mother’s blood.
Despite the intervention, the baby’s condition worsened, and he died on October 9, 2018.
Kyofuna argued that the hospital negligently handled her baby’s care, particularly citing the emergency transfusion, which she said was conducted in violation of the Ministry of Health clinical guidelines. She maintained that the procedure was carried out without informed consent, compatibility testing, or proper equipment, and that the rapid administration of blood contributed to the child’s death.
She further faulted the hospital for delays in medical review and failure to adequately investigate the baby’s deteriorating condition.
In its defence, the hospital denied any negligence, arguing that the baby was already critically ill before the transfusion. It maintained that the procedure was a necessary life-saving intervention undertaken in an emergency after efforts to obtain compatible blood had failed.
The hospital told court that in the absence of a post-mortem examination, the plaintiff had not proved that any specific action or omission directly caused the baby’s death.
In his ruling, Justice Bonny Isaac Teko found that the hospital owed a duty of care to the newborn, which it breached through delayed medical attention, failure to secure timely specialist review, and shortcomings in the conduct of the emergency transfusion.
“Those breaches materially contributed to the death of the child, although it has not been proved that the blood transfusion, of itself, was the immediate cause of death,” the judge ruled, adding that the hospital is vicariously liable for the actions of its staff.
Meanwhile, Court awarded Kyofuna Shs17,368, 600 in special damages, Shs100 million in general damages, and Shs30 million for loss of expectation of life.
