For many poor people in Apac District, a bicycle is not just transport, it is an ambulance, a livelihood, and their only hope of reaching far-flung destinations.
But today, going to Apac General Hospital with a bicycle has become risky. You may get treatment, but lose your bicycle.
Theft of bicycles and motorcycles has become rampant at the hospital, with cases increasing just a month after Apac Resident District Commissioner Andrew Onyuk removed the private attendants who used to keep bicycles at a fee of Shs500 – 1,000.
“We have the askaris being paid by the government to guard the hospital and the property there. The private attendants collecting money from the people coming to seek for medical treatment must leave immediately,” he said during the hospital baraza in August.
A new bicycle now costs between Shs550,000 and Shs1.2 million in Apac Municipality, a heavy loss for low-income earners.
“They chased away the keepers saying they were extorting patients, but now we are suffering more,” said Caroline Akello, a mother from Chegere Sub-county who lost her only bicycle last week while she was in the maternity ward.
“I borrowed the bicycle to bring my daughter here. Now I have lost it. How will I pay back and how will I go home?” she said.
Joseph Ebong, a resident of Akokoro Sub-county, also lost a bicycle at the hospital.
“My daughter brought her younger sister who had got an accident in the garden for medical treatment and left the bicycle outside, upon returning she found the bicycle missing,” he said.
A boda boda rider at the hospital gate said at least 3-4 bicycles are stolen every week and one motorcycle was stolen last month.
“I have witnessed an elderly man who came out crying for his bicycle which was stolen when he was inside the hospital seeking medical treatment for his child,” said Francis Okello, a boda-boda rider.
Apac Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr James Okullu also raised the security concern during the hospital baraza in August.
“There was a time when a stranger entered into the theatre at the time when we were conducting the operation of a patient,” he said.
Harriet Nelly Akello, Apac District Local Government chairperson of the committee of social services, said the matter will soon be presented before the district council for a lasting solution.
“We have already discussed it at the committee level and we want the council to come up with a resolution to address that concern once for all,” she said.