A 20 year old and single mother of a two-months-old baby has decried lack of finances to buy medicine for her bullet wounds.
Shakirah Nyemera a resident of Banda in Kampala says, she has been in Mulago several times and failed to get medical attention, all they could do is to tell her to go and buy medicine in private clinics.
Nyemera was shot at by security personnel aboard a speeding security double cabin pickup car during the riots sparked off by the arrest of Robert Sentamu Kyagulanyi, a presidential candidate in the 2021 elections for the National Unity Platform (NUP) party.
She was shot at with a live bullet which entered via her right side rib and came out at the back was taken to hospital, but after having the bullet removed from her body, she was sent home and her gunshot wounds are still in bad condition as she feels pain all the time.
Nyemera who was formerly a shop attendant in Banda and when she got injuries, her work stopped because she cannot do anything on her own. Her employment involved carrying goods, attending to clients and standing for long hours, which she cannot do anymore because of injuries she sustained.
Shakirah Nyemere, who is still suffering from bullet and the operation wounds, says has suffered a lot with her baby because she no longer works. She appeals to well-wishers to extend a hand of help in order to get medical help and what to eat. She also says, government should fulfill its promise to treat the innocent victims at free cost.
The State Minister for Primary Healthcare, Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu, as she visited the Mulago national referral hospital after the protest, promised that victims were to get free medical care, however, Nyemera says when she went to Mulago, she was only operated to remove the bullet and sent back home to take care for herself.
Nyemera has since failed to get any medicine since she has no money to buy medicine from private health facilities. She adds that she once got shillings 10,000 from a well-wisher that she used to buy three tablets and that was the last treatment she received. Each tablet she needs costs shillings 3000.
Enid Kabagambe, a caretaker of Shakira Nyemera, says her daughter is going through hardships because she needs medical attention and she lacks what to eat because the bullet wounds are still paining her. Kabagambe says whenever Nyemera goes to Mulago, she comes back with nothing.
Nyemera was shot at when her baby was two weeks old; she says the father of her baby disappeared immediately when she told him that she was pregnant. She met him in Kampala and she does not know even anyone related to this man. She rents a single room in banda which she says it is hard to raise rent too.
At least 50 people died from bullet wounds during riots that occurred following the arrest of Robert Sentamu Kyagulanyi, the NUP presidential candidate in the 2021 elections. More than 300 were arrested, detained and arraigned in court while some are still missing and unaccounted for by the government.
