The husband of a woman who died at the hands of a ‘Chinese contraceptive pill’ has told this publication that he intends to honour her memory by raising public awareness of its dangers.
Mr George Ssendagala, who was in a relationship with Barbra Atwiine-Ssendagala since 2009, revealed that his in-laws were opposed to his decision.
“The people who died of the same before my wife could have played this role to save my wife, but they did not. I choose to do it to save other lives,” Mr Ssendagala said in an interview last Thursday.
Atwiine’s death captured the imagination of the nation. The police shared a video that captured her last moments ironically at their headquarters in Naguru. Atwiine was ascending the broad staircase at the headquarters when she suddenly lost consciousness.
A post-mortem report attributed her sudden death to effects brought on by the Sofia pill. At Mulago Hospital where the post-mortem was carried out, Mr Ssendagala was asked whether his wife had ever used the Chinese pill. When he replied affirmatively, he was told that the clots that were picked out in his deceased wife’s lungs were down to the pill.
Mr Ssendagala says his wife almost suffered a blackout ascending the same staircase three days earlier. She used to supply herbal supplements to her clients at the police headquarters.
Although she pursued a Bachelors of Arts degree in Education, graduating in 2016, Atwiine had carved a reputation of being a shrewd businesswoman.
The mother of three met her husband in 2009. A Senior Five then learner, Atwiine soon discovered that she was pregnant with her first child. It, just like the other two she would carry full term, proved to be difficult. She risked death on all occasions before undergoing successful C-section deliveries.
After coming through her third delivery, Atwiine was advised to stop conceiving because it would medically put her life at risk. Left with little choice, she explored family planning options. Most—if not all—had adverse effects that negatively impacted her sex life.
Then she landed on Sofia pill widely known in Uganda as “aka ba China” or the ‘Chinese contraceptive pill.’
Mr Ssendagala said she only told him about her shift from injections to the Sofia pill a month after using it. She purred about the pill, pointing out the change in the couple’s sex life. There was just one problem: the pill’s availability. It was scarce. The Ssendagalas didn’t care to probe why it was only available on the black market.
“It slipped my mind even when I am a strict man,” he says.
The National Drug Authority (NDA) had in fact banned the pill last October. It said the pill has unacceptably high levels of hormones that can cause cancer, infertility and blood clots.
As a couple, the Ssendagalas used to have many conversations, the ones about death now pop up with absurd ease for Mr Ssendagala. He remembers promises he made to the woman he married on November 23, 2019. Take the one of burying her next to her mother’s grave in Itojo, Ntungamo District. Which he did on March 24 or attending mass on a daily basis. Which he does each day.
The days since the death of Atwiine have not been easy for their household.
“Our last born daughter Abigail keeps getting weird dreams about the mother and it gets emotional as she tries to explain them to me,” Mr Ssendagala told the Monitor.
Deceased
Barbra Atwiine was born on September 18, 1990, in Itojo. She was the sixth of the nine children born to Wilson Katungwemsi and Margret Mbabazi. She is survived by her father, Mr Wilson Katungwemsi; husband, three daughters, Stella Nankabirwa, 14, Ritah Namawejje, 12, Abigail Bukirwa, seven; and 8 siblings.
