Lack of medical check-ups to blame for sudden death

The news of people collapsing to death in their homes, and workstations among other places is increasingly becoming rampant in the country.

Now, medics say the lack of medical checkups and physical exercises are responsible for the sudden deaths in the country.

“Most of our people in our country are walking around with a lot of diseases that kill them unknowingly and such diseases include hypertension. During our clinic days, we have realised that for every 14 patients we check for hypertension eight have high blood pressure.

“High blood pressure can lead to a stroke, can burst your blood vessels in the brain, can hit your heart and you die of heart attack,” Dr John Ekure of Orthopedic Hospital Kumi says.

Dr John Ekure donating blood.

“The other thing is lack of exercise, many people are becoming obese because they do not have time to exercise,” Ekure adds.

He said this on Saturday afternoon during the Lions Club health sensitisation held at Mayors Garden in Kumi municipality.

The Lions first started with cleaning Kumi town before subjecting people to health talk in which medical doctors lectured people on the benefits of living in a clean environment as well as regularly going for medical checkups.

“Some people are born with deformities in their blood vessels that medics call aneurysm.

Aneurysms often occur in the aorta, brain, back of the knee, intestine or spleen. A ruptured aneurysm can result in internal bleeding that can result in death. You can only know of such a situation when you have gone for a medical checkup,” Dr. Ekure explained.

The Lions of Kumi, which consists of medical practitioners, offered diabetes testing, hypertension as well as blood donation drive.

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, and non-traumatic lower limb amputation in Uganda according to the World Health Organisation.

According to the International Diabetes Foundation, in 2021, an estimated 716,000 adults in Uganda had diabetes.

“Most of our people have never bothered to take diabetes tests and yet the disease is dangerous. Our being here is to raise awareness of medical checkups to save more lives,” Ekure said.

Dr James Opio, a consultant radiologist at Mulago Heart Institute, talked about the effects of bleaching saying the practice increases chances of people getting cancer of the skin.

Though the practice is common with women, some men have also opted to bleach with the view of looking nice.

“The sun radiation affects the cells of our bodies without us knowing that without our black skin that has melanin that sheaves the dangerous radiation from reaching our cells and exposes us to cancer,” Opio said.

“Bleaching also affects the veins because they will all be exposed to any object that can cut and cause bleeding. We should be proud of our black skin,” Opio advised.

He explained that Albino’s have a 90% cancer chance by the time they become adults of 30 years and above.

He also advised people against taking herbal concoctions that are rampant in the market saying they are doing more harm to the people.

Suzan Asio, the Lions president Kumi central, said that they organised the health talk and cleaning exercise with the aim of creating awareness on the environment and health of the people.

“We serve humanity, and our task is not only to make donations but also to educate them about their health status as well as offering necessary medical checkups,” Asio said.

Mzee Joash Olupot, a former head teacher of Ngora High school welcomed the Lions initiative of sensitizing people about their health.

“I have lived with diabetes for over two decades now because I follow what the medics teach. Once we follow the advice of the medics then we shall live a healthy life,” Olupot said.