4-month-old boy dies in botched circumcision procedure, medics flee

4-month-old boy dies in botched circumcision procedure, medics flee
A clinical officer conducts circumcision on a 30-day old baby at the Homa Bay Referral Hospital in Kenya in 2019. COURTESY PHOTO

Pallisa, Uganda  | URN l Two staff at Pallisa General Hospital in eastern Uganda are on the run over the death of a 4-month-old boy who passed on one hour after undergoing circumcision on Saturday 15, April 2023.

It’s reported that Eriasa Clement Edwin, a four months old baby, started bleeding immediately after circumcision.

According to Emily Alaso, the North Bukedi police regional public relation officer, the baby died due to convulsions. A convulsion is condition in which muscles contract and relax quickly and cause uncontrolled shaking of the body.

“On April 15, 2023 the mother of the deceased at around 10am reached to Pallisa General hospital for safe male circumcision which was done between 11am to midday. After he was discharged at around 1pm the deceased got a convulsion and was taken back to theatre where he was put on oxygen. His situation worsened as he bled until he passed on at around 6pm on Saturday,” ASP Alaso said on Sunday.

According to the police, the health workers whose names are withheld circumcised the boy and as the mother went away with him just a few meters from the hospital, the baby got convulsions and she brought him back to the hospital.

“Police visited the scene and obtained statements from the parents of the deceased and other eyewitnesses. However, police are on ground to establish whether the suspect is a trained surgeon qualified to perform such a procedure,” Ms Alaso said.

Read Also: Number of men opting for safe male circumcision reducing

The medics put the patient on oxygen but he died that is when they took off after fear of being arrested. Alaso said that police is still hunting for the health workers who if arrested, will be charged with neglect of duties causing the death of the boy.

Our efforts to get a comment from the hospital’s medical superintendent were futile as unknown contact was unavailable by press time.