Kamuli, (UG):- The entire community at Namasagali College in Kamuli district is soaked in sombre mood and grief mourning one of their students who died mysteriously after a snake bit him at night in the school dormitory.
Preliminary information obtained indicates that at about 03:30 am, Nasser Ssajjabi, 17, a Senior Three student felt what he termed as slight pain which he assumed was a mosquito bite.
However, after 30 minutes, it turned out to be the bite from a venomous snake. What awakened Ssajjabi was the right hand’s paralysis, heavy chest pain amid loss of strength to sit or stand up, sparking off hectic movements to save his life.
The panting victim was rushed to Namasagali Health Center III where there was no anti-venom drug, before the desperate medics referred the patient to Kamuli General Hospital, where he arrived almost motionless and later announced dead.
Owing to the renowned belief that venom victims take time to die permanently, the parents insisted on rushing their child to another facility in Mukono, where they lost the battle.
Ssajjabi was laid to rest in Bulembo village, Kidera sub-county in Buyende district on Saturday (November 2, 2024), five days after his fate with the serpent.
Namasagali College Headteacher, Mr Frank Sendi, who regretted the tragedy, said the serpent could have accessed the dormitory during preps and hid in the corner next to the decker bed.
“We’re still haunted by the shock and trauma. It was very unfortunate. He was an above-average, promising student,” Mr Sendi said.
However, Godfrey Nyakaana Apuuli, the Parents Teachers’ Association (PTA) chairperson, called for vigilance and improved sanitation in the premises he believes to be infested by the serpent, being at the shoreline of the River Nile.
He also criticised the lack of transport at the College, adding that in case the three vehicles were not grounded, the student wouldn’t have been lost.
“The hard-to-reach school is 23km from Kamuli General Hospital, making it tricky to move a critical patient on time,” Nykaana said, warning that precautions should be in place to avert such nasty incidents in future.
Namasagali College is a mixed boarding middle and high school located in Kamuli District in Eastern Uganda. Now under the Universal Secondary Education (USE) programme, the once mighty College has over 10 years struggled to recover from shambles since Fr. Grimes’ exit in 2020.
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