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Nakaseke, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A 14-year-old boy living with HIV/AIDS is stuck at Kiwoko Hospital where he was abandoned by parents during COVID-19 lockdown.
The boy was admitted at Kiwoko Hospital after developing HIV related opportunistic infections. He had been abandoned at the grandfather’s home at Wankwale village in Nakaseke district early this month, with no care or medical support.
On July 10, the boy petitioned Kiwoko Police Station through a resident to transfer him to hospital, where he is currently receiving treatment. Paul Mugisha, a senior HIV/AIDS counsellor at Kiwoko Hospital, says that the boy was malnourished with several wounds all over his body, by the time he was admitted at the facility. After a number of tests, he was found to have HIV, and his CD4 had fallen drastically.
The boy says that he was surviving on a single meal a day, or sometimes no meal at all, even when he was ailing, yet he does not know the whereabouts of the mother.
His grandfather Alex Bambasi says he does not want him to return to his home after treatment because he does not have the capacity to look after him. He Explains that the boy was dumped at his home by unidentified men without explaining the whereabouts of the mother, whom he had not heard from for more than a year.
Pastor William Kintu, the Manager of Kiwoko Hospital HIV/AIDS Project says that they have provided him with treatment, food and some clothes to improve his wellbeing. Kintu, however, noted that administrators at Kiwoko hospital wanted to discharge the boy on Friday, July 17 after he stabilized but later learnt that he has nowhere to go. Kintu says that the boy has been enrolled on Antiretroviral drugs but needs food, shelter and emotional support to be able to go through the treatment.
Kiwoko Hospital HIV/AIDS Project currently looks after 350 HIV/AIDS positive children from Nakasongola, Nakaseke and Luweero districts. However, at least 10 children lack shelter and support after the parents abandoned them in various homes with elders who are equally poor.
Isah Ssemwogerere the Savannah Regional Police Spokesperson says that at least six cases of child neglect have been registered during COVID-19 lockdown in Nakaseke district. It’s reported that parents abandoned the children after losing jobs as several businesses remain closed over COVID 19 lockdown.
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