In the month of February 2023, 14-year-old Jonathan Luyinda a student at St. Martin Secondary School in Mpigi got vaccinated against Covid-19 without his parent’s approval.
On the request of his family, this publication traced the journey of the lanky boy’s agony through various tests at different hospitals until he breathed his last with his hope of becoming an investigative journalist.
Luyind’s internal organs, according to the various hospital documents that we examined with the help of experts, were found to have been compromised which later led to multiple organ failure.
While still at school after being immunized, Lunda was confined and given less access to his relatives for help who say that perhaps if he had been reached in town the predicament could have been mitigated but they insisted the complications started after getting the Covid-19 vaccination Jab.
According to the vaccination act of 2017, “Immunization of children. 1). Subject to subsection 2), a parent of a child in the age bracket of one day to five years shall ensure that the child is immunized against the immunolabel diseases in accordance with the Second Schedule.” the act stated in part.
During one of the televised address, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the minister of health said that the vaccination of children 5 years to 17 years will only be undertaken if parents accept their children to be vaccinated so we are still having discussions with the ministry of Education, ministry of local government and the parents in regards to this and if the parents decide that they want their children to be vaccinated, this will be done during the holiday season and parents will be requested to willingly take their children for vaccination.’
What happened
In an interview with News 24/7, Ms Tendo Nalwadda, mother of Luyinda says, “Maria Kabayisansa one of my children that have been at St. Martin Secondary School used her Matron’s phone and told me that she had spent one week and four days without seeing Jonah in class and that she asked Jonah’s friends and they told her that Jonah got vaccinated and started feeling bad.”
The tearful mother says that after hearing from her daughter Kabayisansa, she contacted the Deputy Headmaster Mr Mulimira at around 10pm who she says apologized to for calling late before she went on to inquire about her son from whom she received a positive answer about the good health of Luyinda.
“He even told me that he was on Tuesday with Jonah in the school compound and that Jonah was stubborn as he has always been,” she says adding, “I took the words of Mr. Mulimira because he is a mature person but after one week he called me in the morning at 10AM to come to school and pick Jonah and I asked him when I called you in the first place what did I ask you about my children, he told me to let go of the past and resumed me in a statement and said that Jonah became sick yesterday.”
Nalwadda says she took her son to KCCA health Centre in Kisenyi but she was unfortunately told that they could not manage her son’s illness after running several tests and failing to get the problem before taking him to Kitebi Hospital where they detected that kidneys were damaged, he was anemic and he had other infections.
When the Luyinda’s health condition continued to worsen, they transferred him to Kiruddu Hospital for further management.
Counting the cost
However, Ms Nalwadda says that by this time, the hospital bill started to swell as they were taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) but not even the school no0r the ministry was ready to help them with staking the growing fees.
Asked for a comment on whether such a case had ever been handled, Mr Emmanuel Ayinabyona, the ministry of health spokesperson referred us to Dr Alfred Driwale the Assistant Commissioner of Health Services: Vaccines & Immunization at the ministry of health.
Dr Driwale asked News 24/7 to send him an email of questions we wanted to know but he never replied to the questions three months later and our calls would not consequently be answered.
Nalwadda says ministry health officials had visited the hospital within the time we were investigating this story but did not extend any kind of help.
“Jonah started dialysis and the other challenge I faced was that the catheter I came with from the ICU worked for a while and got expired and yet I did not have money because the amount for replacement of a catheter was Shs550,000 and Shs1.7 million up to Shs3.5 million per day,” she says.
Figures from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics show that a few Ugandans can afford any medical care that goes above 1 million shillings. Probably after this story there would be people that can act and get some answers for this family because losing a child at fourteen, is not easy for any parent out there.
Peter Eceru, a programmes Coordinator, Advocacy at Center for Health Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) an organisation that provides legal support to persons whose rights have been infringed upon in Uganda and conduct strategic litigation to redress systematic problems says the move by the school was unlawful.
“Before Covid a lot of vaccination ranging polio, measles was done for children under five years and right there the standard practice was that a parent would take a child for vaccination and so by taking the child for vaccination implicated that the parent has consented the child to be vaccinated however with the onset of covid the situation has changed and you have children beyond seven years,” Eceru says.
WATCH BROADCAST STORY: https://youtu.be/leAfFXGLOzc
