KAMPALA | When medical care becomes a political statement, even compassion can carry a prison sentence. The story of nurse Agnes Muluka reveals how Uganda’s health workers are caught between their duty to save lives and a system that punishes mercy.
In Uganda, where politics often dictates access to services, even medicine has become a battlefield. Health workers who extend care to opposition supporters risk harassment, arrest, and the loss of their livelihoods. Among them is nurse Agnes Muluka, whose ordeal exposes the cost of compassion in a polarized nation.
When Treating Patients Becomes a Crime
During recent election cycles, opposition supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) reported being turned away from public hospitals. Many sought help from private clinics run by nurses who were willing to treat them discreetly. What should have been routine medical care became an act of defiance in the eyes of the state.
Muluka’s clinic was one such refuge. Victims of beatings, tear gas, and political violence came through her doors. But on March 20, 2022, armed police raided the facility. Officers sealed off the building with yellow tape, confiscated medicine, and arrested Muluka and her staff. She was held for a week. By the time she was released, her license had been revoked and her practice stripped bare.
Families Torn Apart by Politics
The pressure to choose sides has seeped even into homes. Muluka’s husband, a supporter of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), opposed her work and opened a separate clinic. Their marriage collapsed under the strain. Similar stories are echoed by other families where political allegiance divides households and careers.
Intimidation Beyond the Clinic
Shortly after the March raid, Muluka’s second clinic in Kamuli was attacked. Her elderly mother was beaten during the assault and hospitalized. The nurse herself received threats to abandon her work with NUP supporters or face death. Her cousin, Waiswa Mufumbira, NUP’s Deputy Spokesperson, was also arrested and tortured — a reminder that entire families can become targets.
A Systemic Problem
Analysts say Muluka’s ordeal is not an isolated case but part of a wider pattern of politicizing healthcare. “When the state criminalizes compassion, nurses and doctors are forced to choose between their oath to save lives and their fear of persecution,” noted one Kampala-based human rights observer.
The revocation of licenses, the destruction of clinics, and the criminalization of care are creating what experts describe as “healthcare deserts” in politically marginalized communities. Patients are left untreated, while health professionals are silenced.
The Price of Compassion
Today, many Ugandan nurses live with fear that their next patient could cost them their freedom. For Muluka, compassion meant the end of her career, the destruction of her clinics, and the fracturing of her family.
Her story reflects a stark truth: in Uganda, even the simple act of treating the wounded can be branded an act of rebellion.
