After a year of my work in Kapchorwa I was transferred to Mubende Hospital, 100 miles to the west of Kampala. I was assigned the role of the hospital in-charge as well as head of the district medical/health services. Being rather new in the profession and the country, it was a daunting task for me.
When I arrived in Mubende, there was no vacant accommodation for me and the guest house also happened to be fully occupied. The hospital made arrangements for me with an army doctor stationed there, who happened to be from Tororo. The doctor and his family were very nice and good hosts to me for the few days I stayed with them. However I cannot recall his name.
Back in the day in Africa, when you travelled to a new town, you almost always stayed with other expats, Indians or other foreigners. It didn't matter whether you knew them or not, or even if they were from the same profession as you. This fostered new bonds, new relationships. Over the years I played host to a motley set of visitors. This constant stream of visitors made life in the bush much more enjoyable.
Later when I moved into my own house, I had a visitor from Kampala's Mulago Hospital, a TB specialist by the name of Dr Anil Patel. He had come on an official visit to the hospital. I tried to book accommodation for him in the guest house which he declined and said that he preferred to stay with me in my house. My problem was compounded in those days since my houseboy had quit all of a sudden, and I already had to do manage meals myself alongwith my call duties. I was finding it diificult since I hardly knew any cooking and in the Mubende of those days, take-out was not an option. I explained my predicament, but Dr Patel insisted he could manage with tinned food available in the shops there, like baked beans, beef and bread and the like. He was an old settler and he knew very well how to manage and survive. Later I learnt Dr. Patel migrated to Australia in 1972 at the time of exodus of Asians. On another occasion, an American water engineer, a Mr Wintergreen, happened to stay with me and I was able to look after him well.
Apart from the usual hospital duties with emergency calls according to the duty roster with my three colleague doctors, I had to fulfill my responsibility towards the health centres/dispensaries in the district. This involved a regular inspection and timely supply of the drugs and foodstuff for the patients from the district headquarters. I also had to oversee staff discipline. For this I would undertake the tour of the various centres at least once in a month to see myself if everything was in order or to study the issues and find a solution. During one year of stay in Mubende, I must have attended Mbale court for the medico-legal cases at least 10 times, a distance of 269 miles. It was a good change for me and gave me some confidence of driving too in my new Ford Escort.
In Mubende district, I managed to establish a new dispensary in Naluggi, where there was virtually no medical facility available in the vicinity for the people there. In this task, I was able to elicit a good cooperation from the Catholic church there. I was very proud of this.
The months went by and soon it was time for me to proceed on home leave after the completion of my first tour of service in late May, 1972. I kept my car with the PWD in Kampala for safe custody, and travelled by East African Railways from Kampala to Mombasa via Nairobi. It was a good, memorable and comfortable journey. I got to see the beautiful countryside of Uganda and Kenya as well. The rolling hills, verdant greens. I boarded a ship, called 'State of Haryana' in Mombasa, owned by Shipping Corporation of India. It was my first journey by sea. I was overcome with sea sickness for the first two days but after that it became a very exciting and pleasant journey in which, among other things, I also got to judge a beauty contest!
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