Edith is a 26-year-old girl that hails from Kayanga village, Kisiizi parish, Nyarushanje Subcounty in Rukungiri District South-western Uganda. Edith developed stomach pain in 2017 which she thought would stop within a short time. Unfortunately, the pain continued for 3 years. She visited the clinic often, received medication but the pain continued. The only report the doctor gave her was that her uterus was weak. Regardless of her uterus reportedly being weak, Edith became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. She continued feeling the stomach pain during her pregnancy and after giving birth. Edith visited the hospital many times but did not receive proper treatment.

One day, Edith felt like emptying her bowels, she tried pushing, but nothing came out. She felt pain and stopped. She tried harder until she felt something coming out. It felt strange, she picked toilet paper to try and pull it out. It felt like flesh. Edith got worried as it wasn’t falling.  At this time, she was in too much pain. She gathered strength and walked back to the house. She was living with her sister in Kampala at that time. Her sister rushed her to some hospital in Kampala where they hoped they would be helped. Unfortunately, when they reached the hospital they were not attended to. They were asked to wait for the doctor on duty the following morning.

In the morning after the doctor’s examination, Edith was called in for an operation. She had been diagnosed with colostomy. “You shouldn’t have stayed un attended to the whole night, the doctor told Edith.” By this time, the part had started rotting. After the colostomy reversal operation, she still felt stomach pain, she could not sit, could not bathe nor feed herself. For every service or medication, she needed, she either bought it from outside the hospital or bribed staff to give her what was available. Edith suffered. All this time, her sister was attending to her singlehandedly. She was overwhelmed. They spent too much money but received too little help.

Edith’s sister called their mother from the village to help them. Edith’s mother came hoping that her daughter would recover soon. To her dismay, it took longer than she expected. Edith’s condition became worse by day. They ran out of money to buy medicine and food. When her mother saw that the hospital bill was increasing each day, Edith’s mother thought to herself, “why don’t I take my daughter to COU Kisizi Hospital where we are registered under Kisiizi Hospital Health Insurance Scheme (KHHIS)?”.

KHHIS has been in existence since 1992 and her membership has since grown to 47,000 members. It is also the biggest among Health Insurance Schemes supported by Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau.  Edith’s mother Margaret joined KHHIS 23 years ago. Before she joined KHHIS, she was part of a savings group (for health) of about 20 households saving UGX 5000 per month. When the Hospital introduced the Community Health Insurance, these households became interested and joined immediately. Before she joined KHHIS, she had had a bad experience paying hospital bills after her operation. They sold a piece of land to pay off the 1million shillings which they owed the hospital. The money from the land was not even enough to clear the bill.

She requested the doctor to discharge them but the doctor hesitated because Edith had not shown any signs of improvement. They explained to the doctor that they need to go to a hospital near home just in case. They were discharged, organized transport and travelled to Kisiizi Hospital.

They sold a piece of land to raise money to pay for Edith’s hospital bills. They spent Five Million shillings approx. $1388 in hospital but Edith did not get better.

Edith, her son Jonathan and mother Margaret

At Kisiizi Hospital, Edith was welcomed so well, examined and given an appointment for another operation. The operation had to be redone as it had been messed up the first time. Staff at Kisiizi were so good to Edith. They checked on her all the time to make sure that she was fine and took her medicines in time. They cared for her so much that her pain became bearable. In a short while, Edith’s health had improved. Her operation and admission at Kisiizi took about a quarter of the money she spent in a hospital in Kampala. The Community Health Insurance Scheme paid half of the Hospital bills while Edith’s parents also paid half.

Edith is excited as she has recovered. “I can now walk, dig for a short time, play with my son and do so many other things on my own.”

Edith is now able to harvest crops

Edith is now able to play with her son Jonathan.

“I thought I would die, I am happy to be alive today, remarked Edith.”

Saving lives through Community Health Insurance.