Police Trainees Die from Intense Military Training At Kabalye

At least five trainees have reportedly died at Kabalye police training school in Masindi district in the recent past.

Sources based at the school that preferred anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to the media, said the police students died at different stages of the training which started in September last year.

While some died from common illnesses, others reportedly succumbed to the rigorous training which also involves tough military drills.

“The tough military training that this intake is undergoing coupled with the recent rainy season affected many of them,” said the source

It was established that at one point a trainee dropped and died instantly during an early morning parade that was conducted under a heavy downpour in December.

When the training commenced, speculative information surfaced from the school that police trainees were actually undergoing military training, which authorities later confirmed.

Authorities said that the trainees needed that form of training to equip them with the desired skills to counter situations in the public that may require military action.

Such situations according to police include operations in harsh environments and hard to reach areas.

Over 5000 trainees at Kabalye are transitioning into police law training and other modules of the policing syllabus.

Bodies of the unidentified trainees were quietly handed over to their respective families for burial by the authorities.

Cases of security recruits collapsing to death have been registered on several occasions. During the recruitment of Local Defence Unit (LDU) last year, two cases were registered the West Nile region.

Relatedly, in the ongoing UPDF recruitment drive, also two cases have been registered so far. In Mityana, a 27-year-old man called Gerald Mulahi who had been selected to join the force collapsed and died after the 5km run test.

On Thursday, In Mbale district a 24-year-old man identified as Aliyi Wakoli died during a jogging session after passing the initial tests.

According to Dr Mulamba Nasuru, a general medical practitioner and health tutor at Mulago hospital, such sudden deaths can be attributed to a number of factors.

He pointed out that many people go for recruitment without proper health check-ups, and are subjected to abrupt rigorous training of which their bodies are not commissioned to handle.

Victims, he says, normally succumb to Hypoxia, a complication that arises from lack of enough oxygen in the blood flow due to over straining of the body in exercise sessions.

Others die from mental complications caused by the stress that comes with the physical and commando training.

“Recruits are normally trained to a breaking point which cause both physical and mental stress and can result into death,” he emphasized

Other deaths in the training environment could be as a result of infections from harsh environment and simple wounds that attract tetanus.