At least 26 Congolese refugees who were involved in an accident along the Kisoro –Kabale road on Tuesday are without food and attendants at Kabale regional referral hospital where they were admitted.
The refugees, who were being transferred from Nyakabande reception centre in Kisoro district to Rwamwanja in Kamwenge district, were involved in an accident at Muko village in Muko Sub County in Kabale district.
The Gateway bus registration number UAH 745Y, one of the 20 transporting refugees, lost corol and overturned killing a 7 year old child and injuring over 30 other people.
26 of the injured were rushed to Kabale regional referral hospital with serious injuries, while eight others were taken to Kisoro hospital. Three other people were at Muko health Centre.
At Kabale hospital the doctors were busy attending to the injured as some of them were taking black tea and bread. The refugees told URN that they were hungry and had only received black tea and one slice of bread each.
The surgical ward at Kabale Hospital was congested and the few beds had no mattresses or blankets.
Dr Micheal Wanyama, the acting Medical Superintendent, said the hospital has no resources to feed refugees and that other patients are always given food by their attendants.
Morshed Anwar, the head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Mbarara sub office, said that the organisation is making arrangements with the hospital to get food and drinks for the injured refugees.
He said that for the issue of the attendants they will mobilize Red Cross volunteers to be sent at the facility to attend to the patients.
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At Muko Health Centre Four, the injured received treatment and the In-charge at the health facility, William Kwesiga, said that they were responding well to treatment.
Meanwhile Gasper Halelimana, the father to Jadodi Zabayo, the only deceased accident victim, says that she was his only remaining child after he lost five other children in the fighting back home.
Halelimana says that when the bus started zigzagging, the child fell out through the window and the bus fell right on top of him.
He says that his wife was traveling in another bus.
