The medical fraternity of Uganda is mourning one of their own, Dr. Emmeline Bagonza after she lost her life in a road accident on Friday, and the story of her death is more heartbreaking.
It is said by eyewitnesses that Bagonza was sitting on a bodaboda, heading for her evening job at the International Medical Center (IMC) in Kampala when the accident occurred.
The bodaboda she was on was crossing the intersection at Spear Motors in Nakawa.
As soon as the bodaboda entered the busy highway that is Jinja Road from the direction of Ntinda, an out-of-control taxi appeared from nowhere. It was burrowing down the slope eastward from Kampala towards Banda at full speed.
According to eyewitnesses, the bodaboda that the doctor was traveling by couldn’t move fast enough to get out of danger. It is reported that the doctor jumped off the bodaboda.
“She was on the bodaboda, and when the taxi in front of them sort of lost control, she tried to jump off the boda to save herself. She fell down and got stuck under the tyres of the taxi that had lost control. The boda man survived and ran off,” said eyewitness John Bosco Welike, a Boda Boda cyclist at Spear Motors Nakawa stage.
Bagonza was a specialist in primary care, preventive medicine, and community medicine working with IMC. Bodabodas were her choice means of transport and it is believed that she always moved with her own helmet, but it seems she forgot to use it on a fateful day.