Government should provide protective gears to all medical workers if Uganda is to win the war against the spread of COVID-19, the Parliamentary Committee set up to oversee the activities of the government task force on COVID 19 has said.
In an interview after the visit to assess preparedness of Mulago hospital and Naguru hospital to handle Coronavirus cases, Michael Bukenya (Bukuya County), who also doubles as Chairperson Parliament’s Health Committee said that at Naguru hospital, the medical staff do not have enough protective gear which put their lives at risk.
“When we went to Naguru hospital, the preparedness to protect health workers is still lacking. They expect supplies from National Medical Stores this afternoon,” said Bukenya.
He added that many people who travelled abroad have reported to Mulago for screening but they have not been attended to for days which he says increases the risk of transmission.
“The challenge is that Mulago which is the national screening center has people who have been coming for three days because they had travelled to UK, Dubai and they can’t stay in their communities because people are chasing them. The people to attend to them arrived at midday, after the Parliament Committee had left,” Bukenya said.
The Committee which is headed by Bukenya comprises of Sam Lyomoki, Fred Baseke, Francis Mwijukye and Parliament’s doctor among others.
The development comes at the time President Yoweri Museveni just announced that Uganda has registered four more cases, bringing the total to 18.
Meanwhile, World Health Organisation has warned that the pandemic is accelerating at an exponential rate. The first 100,000 cases took 67 days. The second 100,000 took 11 days; the third 100,000 took just 4 days, and the fourth 100,000 just 2 days.
Global figures show that on 26th January 2020, the cases were2,800, a month later on 26th February 2020, the cases rose to 81,000 and as per yesterday, 26th March 2020, the number of cases had shot to 540,000 worldwide.
