Case speaks out on hospital ambulance that knocked dead a newspaper vendor

Case hospital has admitted that indeed one of the ambulances that was carrying a patient on Monday knocked dead a newspaper vendor along the Kampala-Jinja road.

On Monday, a Case Hospital ambulance knocked dead Majid Musa, a Daily Monitor newspaper agent but the driver never stopped.

Majid was pronounced dead on arrival at Mulago hospital and police had to use CCTV cameras to trace the killer vehicle and later arrested the driver, Richard Ssemanda, 50.

“He claims he had a doctor on board who ordered him not to stop because they had a patient on oxygen in the ambulance,” Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Patrick Onyango said.

In a statement released on Thursday morning, the hospital’s Executive Director, Patrick Kintu Jackson admitted there was an incident involving their ambulance but said the driver never informed them not until Police got involved.

“The ambulance registration number UBA 272G that was transferring a very ill patient on oxygen from Jinja was involved in an accident when its tyre burst as it reached Jinja road traffic lights junction. It was dark and heavily raining. The ambulance swerved, driver lost control and hit the road island,”Kintu said.

“The driver, unfortunately, didn’t report the incident immediately because he didn’t realize he had hit an ended the life of Musa Majid.”

The hospital dismissed reports that the ambulance was hidden after the accident and one of the tyres changed as one of the ways to conceal evidence.

They said because the driver reported it as a normal accident, they had to repair the tyre.

“We decided to change the tyre to ensure the vehicle is in good condition because an ambulance must be in good condition at all times. At that time, we didn’t know the circumstances under which the accident happened but we regret the death of Majid Musa.”

When put to task to explain whether the hospital will compensate the family of the newspaper vendor who was killed by their ambulance, Kintu said police investigations will give them the way forward.

“We are waiting for police investigations to tell us if there was negligence on the side of our driver or not. We can then see what to do next.”