Arua’s Pioneer hospital re-opens 17 days after COVID-19 case

Arua, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Pioneer Hospital and its Annex at Ediofe in Arua district have reopened to the public 17 days after they were closed after one of their patients tested positive for Covid19.

The private health facilities were closed on July 26th, 2020 and all health workers, patients and their attendants quarantined as contacts of the Covid19 patients.

On Wednesday, Arua District Covid19 Taskforce cleared the facilities to resume operations after all the 31 people in the quarantine tested negative.

Dr. Aldo Pariyo, the Proprietor Pioneer Hospital, who was also quarantined, says they have learnt a lot from the quarantine.

Nahori Oya, the Chairperson Arua District Covid19 Taskforce has warned private health practitioners against flouting the Standard Operating Procedures-SOPs as they handle patients to avoid the re-occurrence of such a disastrous scenario.

Paul Drileba, the Arua District Health Officer and Covid19 Focal Point Person, says the experience of Pioneer hospital should serve as a lesson to other private health practitioners.

“We still encourage the private health practitioners to build capacity of their workers on management of Covid19 and other pandemics so that such occurrences are avoided,” said Drileba.

Kennedy Alebati, a Clinical Officer at Pioneer hospital, says the quarantine has made them emerge stronger and determined to handle any other pandemic that may arise.

The premises of Pioneer Main and its Annex were fully sanitized and disinfected before the gates were reopened to the public and UPDF soldiers withdrawn.