Mbarara Hospital medic found dead in her room

Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital administration, staff, friends and relatives of Dr Rukia Abura are still trying to come to terms with the untimely demise of the senior health officer.   

Dr Rukia Abura, 30, a senior health officer at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital who was pursuing a master’s degree in Anaesthesiology at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) was on Wednesday found dead in her room in Mbarara city on Bananuka Drive.  

Addressing the media, Dr Celestine Barigye, the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital director, who doubles as the director of health services in the region, disclosed that Abura’s death was not only a shock to the people at the facility but also to the entire nation at large.



“The deceased who hails from Lira District has been attached to the intensive care unit (ICU) where patients in need of critical care services are managed. She has been a hard-working doctor and we expected a lot from her,” Dr Barigye added.   

Halson Kagure, the hospital’s public relations officer, disclosed that the deceased has been well, adding that she was expected on duty, but when her friend failed to locate her at the hospital at around 11:00 am, she rang her to inquire but the call went unanswered.  

“At last, the phone was answered by another person who happened to have been next to her and informed the caller that Dr Rukia was unconscious,” Kagure said.

Barigye mentioned that they dispatched an emergency medical service (EMS) team led by Dr Emma Munyarugyero, who rushed to her residence opposite Oxford Inn in Mbarara city, but the team couldn’t save their own as she had already breathed her last.  

She was found lying on her back on her bed.  

The Police were informed and a team of detectives with support from the doctors, later took the body to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital for a postmortem.  

At the Pathology Department where her body was taken, the mood was sombre as Abura’s workmates watched their colleague’s lifeless body arrive.  

Kagure said that pathologists will conduct an autopsy to ascertain the actual cause of death pending burial arrangements.