By Eriah Lule
Life-saving is a statement attributed to medical practitioners. However, saving life goes beyond tablets and injections administered by doctors and nurses. Doreen Nanfuka, has led a group of five Uganda Christian University (UCU) Kampala campus students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in procurement and logistics to start a bedside care for patients.
Dubbed Pearl Nursing Care, the initiative intends to solve the issue of patients who are neglected and therefore aren’t cared for. ” A neighbour of ours in Lungujja had a sick mother and she didn’t have a way to juggle between work and her patient,” said Nanfuka. “She asked whether I would give a hand and take care of her sick mother as she offered to pay me, a deal that sounded amazing to me.”
Nanfuka shared her experience with a neighbor but also a classmate, Muwanguzi Trevor, who welcomed her idea. He offered to join hands with her in order to see the idea mature.
Muwanguzi, a former intern at Bugolobi Medical Hospital and now part-time staff, had witnessed patient neglect firsthand at his workplace, but for whatever reasons, he had never given it consideration. “When she gave me a call, it was justification of a solution I had already seen in the health sector of the country,” he said.
Two weeks into the growth of Pearl Nursing Care, Nanfuka’s lecturer back at campus gave a class assignment for group projects. It was in the pitching process for the practicum when three other members joined the initiative.
The project, now a Penta-crew initiative has seen an improving nursing service to the vulnerable and the sick including pregnant mothers, the elderly, and any kind of patient who needs attention.
Muwanguzi notes that the project had to embrace the use of technology and operate online since it does not have a physical address.
In an interview, the Dean of the School of Business, Vincent Kisenyi, noted that the school’s major emphasis on producing multi-skilled graduates through their different programs.
“The holistic education and learner-centered approach we use as the school doesn’t only impart knowledge to students but further encourages them to establish student-based projects that will create future employment,” he said.
Nanfuka, togetehr with Muwanguzi have hopes of establishing employment opportunities for youths in the long run.
“With time, we are looking at recruiting more people so as to ease the work of medical professionals in the field,” said Muwanguzi.
