Senior consultant psychiatrist Dr. Margaret Mungherera has succumbed to cancer in an Indian Hospital, according to the Uganda Medical Association.
Uganda Medical Association Dr Fred Biso said she only flew out of the country on Thursday this week direct from Nsambya Hospital where she had been admitted for a week. She had travelled to continue with her anti-cancer treatment.
The former president of the World Medical Association was 56 and has been a doctor for 30 years and a psychiatrist for 20 years with forensic psychiatry as her special area of interest.
She studied medicine at Makerere University Medical School in Kampala, Uganda, before taking a diploma in tropical medicine at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Dr Mungherera wants to be remembered as someone who transformed the medical profession in Uganda. On how she would want to be quoted for years to come, she said in a 2012 interview, “Women in Uganda can have a place in the leadership of the medical profession, not just in Uganda but also internationally.” Given that she is the first African woman to head the WMA; this is a quote we can believe.
Fighting for the rest
While announcing her retirement in 2015, Dr Mungherera said there is need to increase payment for medical personnel in East Africa and Uganda.
“Health workers want better facilitation and recognition for their efforts. In East Africa, Ugandan medical workers are the worst-paid,” she noted.
Reflecting on her experience in the medical field at the same event, Dr Mungherera explained that many skilled medical professionals are forced to seek employment abroad because of low pay and a no-conducive environment.
“As a senior consultant, I was earning sh2.3m which was later raised to sh2.8m and catered for everything, including fuel for an old car I was given and paying for my driver, “she lamented.
“If I can earn such an amount after working for over 30 years, what about those who are joining the field? She wondered.
That was why all seniors in the field have left and young people are on their own.
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Fact file
Born: October 25, 1957.
• She originally hails from Butaleja and is married to Richard Mushanga. She comes from a famil;y of six children, four of them medical doctors and her parents are still alive.
Education:
• Nakasero Primary School 1963.
• Gayaza High School 1970.
• Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery from Makerere University’s Faculty of Medicine 1982.
• Post graduate diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the University of London’s School of Tropical Medical and Hygiene 1984.
• Masters of Medicine in Psychiatry from Makerere University 1992.
Employment
• Worked as Psychiatrist at Butabika in 1984-2003. Hospital and was in charge of the hospital forensic psychiatric services. Taught clinical forensic psychiatry to undergraduate medical students and psychiatric clinical officers. Developed the Forensic Psychiatry course for post graduate doctors specialising in Psychiatry.
• Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation 1998- 2001.
• As a part time consultant, developed and ran mental health services for Sudanese refugees in Adjumani, Moyo and Arua districts of Northern Uganda. Included mental health training of psychiatric nurses and counselors. Subsequently collaborated with local and Ministry of Health officials to integrate the service into the national service.
• Senior Consultant Psychiatrist Mulago Hospital 2003- 2015
• Head of the clinical psychiatric services of the Hospital. These are outpatient and inpatient services which included consultation psychiatric liaison services to other departments in the Hospital.
