The Mukono Municipality Mp Hon Betty Nambooze Bakireke, might have to stay longer in hospital abroad after her doctors recommended more treatment.
Nambooze was transferred to the USA for further treatment in June 2022 after she suffered a condition known as peripheral neuropathy, which is a result of damage to the nerves located outside of the brain and spinal cord.
This condition often causes weakness, numbness, and pain usually in the hands and feet.
Nambooze had previously been admitted for three weeks to Lubaga hospital after falling several times at her home. The MP was granted a sick leave of three months by her bosses in Parliament.
However in the latest development, the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Anita Among has received written notice of extension of leave from Nambooze’s doctors at Bellevue Hospital Medical Centre.
In a letter dated August 3, 2022, to Among, Nambooze’s physician Prof. Allen Keller said that the legislator needs to undergo extensive evaluation before she can be allowed to leave.
"My particular expertise is in caring for survivors of torture, a category in which she falls. Over the past several years, [her] health has deteriorated as a consequence of injuries she suffered to the spine in 2017 as well as subsequent surgeries she underwent with limited success. " - Keller wrote and copied to the Clerk to parliament and the Mulago Hospital Executive director reads.
Keller added that Nambooze now requires extensive and likely prolonged evaluation and treatment with the aim of restoring her health. This includes the possibility of her having to undergo additional procedures.
In 2017, the MP suffered a beating from security forces that raided parliament during a controversial constitutional amendment debate to lift the presidential age limit from the constitution.
