Renee Bach, a US missionary who served in Uganda, poses with an native child. (Courtesy Photo)
A US missionary who served in Uganda has been accused in a lawsuit of lying about being a medical professional while treating children in the southern part of the country after more than 100 babies allegedly died at her facility.
The Women’s Probono Initiative (WPI), Ms. Gimbo Brenda and Ms. Kakai Annet have sued Ms. Renee Bach and Serving His Children (SHC) a non profit in Masese 1 – Jinja District for actions they allege led to the death of their babies while in the care of Ms. Renee Bach the Director of SHC.
In their case documents, the mothers allege that they were led to believe that Ms. Renee Bach was a ‘medical doctor’ and that her home was a ‘medical facility’ as she was often seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care.
The mothers allege that they were led to believe that Ms. Renee Bach was a ‘medical doctor’ and that her home was a ‘medical facility’ as she was often seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care.
When their children died however, they were told that Ms. Renee has no training at all in medicine and that in 2015, the District Health Officer had closed her facility and ordered her to not offer any treatment to any child.
The Women’s Probono Initiative and the two women are thus alleging that the actions of Renee and SHC led to the death of hundreds of children amounting to violations of human rights including violation of children’s right to access adequate treatment, the right to health of the children, the right to life, the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of race and social economic standing and the right to dignity, freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.
The complainants are demanding that SHC be closed and ceases to operate in Uganda forth with and that general damages be awarded to the aggrieved families complaining herein.
‘There are procedural and regulatory mechanisms that ought to be followed when establishing a medical facility in Uganda. Even so the law provides for licensing agencies and protocols for who should practice medicine in Uganda. It is unacceptable, narcissistic behaviour, for any one, black or white, rich or poor, missionary or angel to pass off as a ‘medical practitioner’ when they are not. By doing so, they mislead unsuspecting vulnerable members of the public. The actions of Renee & SHC have caused so much pain, injustice, a lack of transparency and accountability by the organization Serving His Children. The Judiciary has a role to play in ending this.” – Said Ms. Beatrice Kayaga – an officer at the Women’s Probono Initiative (WPI).
“My son – Elijah Benjamin would be two (2) years old today had he been alive. I delivered him at Jinja Hospital on 21st January, 2017. I feel his life was snatched from my arms by the actions of Ms. Renee Bach. I hope the court can give me Justice” – Ms. Kakai Rose painfully retorts.
Lawsuit Against Renee Bach by on Scribd
According to sources, Bach’s organization reportedly revealed that her organization has treated some 3,400 children suffering from severe malnutrition since 2011.
Speaking to media in USA, a volunteer who claims to have worked alongside Bach said they challenged her over the death of at least one child before realizing the scope of her organization’s damage.
These accusations were published in September 2018 on the website Medium.
“Initially, I admired Renee for her sacrifice and tireless commitment to helping children battling malnutrition. It was not until January 2014 that my perspective really started to change,” the volunteer wrote.
“It was reported by multiple parties that Renee was actively practicing medicine on children that came to the center. She had medical professionals on staff but she herself, with no medical training, chose to actively treat and respond to serious medical needs of children in crisis,” the volunteer said.
“According to previous volunteers and former staff … Renee herself would openly talk about how much she enjoyed ‘hands on medical care.’ An unknown number of children have died in the care of this center. Proper protocol was not followed after the children died, so it could be quite challenging to find the total number of lives lost due to such serious negligence,” the volunteer added.
An ABC 13 News report noted that Bach was supposed to be in court in March to respond to the charges against her but she never appeared.
