Hundreds turn up for LRA war victim’s surgical camp

Hundreds of survivors of the LRA atrocities in Lango Sub-region have continued to flock to Lira Regional Referral Hospital for physical and psychological rehabilitation.

The victims with deep scares of the LRA criminal activities include those who developed chronic illnesses as a result of torture and other forms of cruelty inflicted on them while in captivity

Geoffrey Okullo Obong, a surgeon said some of the victims being targeted for operation include those with hernia, and body scars as a result of burns inflicted by the LRA rebels during their captivity.

“Most of the former victims of LRA who returned home developed hernia because during their captivity; they were made to carry heavy luggage for long distances and long hours in harsh environments.

Because of the disease some of them developed prolapse of the intestine and part of their intestine got rotten,” says Okullo.

Okullo added “We are conducting the operation to remove the hernia and repair the damage caused to the intestine by the hernia,”

The one-week health camp is being supported by Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) which is the monetary arm of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which tried a former commander of the LRA Dominic Ongwen on 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the IDP camps in Northern Uganda.

Okullo said the exercise is being conducted by surgeons from the government health facilities in the region, targeting more than 1000 war victims.

“Out of the 1,146 patients who were screened in Lango Region; 310 were identified as those in need of surgery and they have been booked for the operation during,” says Okullo.

Okullo said some of the former victims also include those with permanent injuries on their spinal code and suffering from body paralysis.

“While in rebel captivity, they were physically assaulted and made to carry heavy luggage and this resulted in injuries to their spinal cord. So this is one of the surgeries we are conducting to correct that problem,” says Okullo.

“Some of them have been living with foreign bodies like bullets in their bodies. We have victims who are too poor and cannot afford medical operations to remove such, so this is an opportunity for them to access the free service which is running for one week,” he added.

This is the 10th health surgical camp Health Rights International has organized for the former victims of LRA since 2020 with funds from the International Criminal Court (ICC) Trust Fund for Victims (TFV).

Emmanuel Oboi, the Project Coordinator of Health Rights International said at least 15000 victims have since been reached in the regions of Acholi, Lango, Teso, and WestNile.

“Assessments were done in the Sub- counties of Ogur, Agweng, Aromo, and Ayami while in Kole District it was done in Alito Sub-county and it was found that out of the 310 people whose conditions needed operation 192 needed specialized operation,” says Oboi.

Molly Acen, an LRA war survivor who currently wears the scars of burns on her face recalls how the rebels attacked their home in Baroganda village, Agweng Sub-county in 2003, burning several others in their huts.

“All these years I have been living with a lot of headaches especially when there is too much sunshine. I majorly survive on painkillers to reduce the pain,” says Acen.