Medical teams at lower health centers exposed to COVID-19

Masaka, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Medical teams at lower level health centres in Masaka district are at risk of contracting the contagious Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) due to the absence of safety gear.  

The lower health centres have registered an increase in the number of patients in recent weeks, due to restrictions on public transport and other measures instituted by the government to stem the spread of COVID-19. But many of them are operating without any standard procedure for safeguarding against the infection which spreads from person to person, mainly through respiratory droplets.  

At Kitabaazi, Kirumba and Kyabakuza Health Centers II and Kasana Health Centre III in Masaka municipality, patients are arriving from different communities, without face masks. None of the facilities has a temperature gun, the basic screening equipment for COVID-19 suspects.   

Teopista Namugerwa, a Nursing Assistant at Kitabaazi Health Centre II says their safety is highly compromised by the prevailing situation at the facilities. She explains that despite the country starting to register incidences of community transmission of COVID-19, the lower level health facilities are regularly receiving patients many of who are reluctant to follow the Ministry of Health preventive measures.

She adds that some sections of the community have also developed complacency, frustrating the ongoing efforts to lockout its spread.       

Gaudensia Namugera, the in-charge of Kyabakuza Health Centre II says they are struggling to fully enforce the use of facemasks among their incoming patients, some of whom are too rigid to embrace precautions. She says they have however resorted to conditioning all their healthcare services to only patients with facemask as a way of reducing the risk to health workers.    

Namugera has revealed that the the facility cannot afford a temperature gun from their operations budget and have since opted for elementary preventive approaches of the virus.      

Masaka District Assistant Health Officer Brenda Kiyingi says that they are aware of the inadequacies in their facilities, but indicates that they are asking the health workers to strictly observe the Ministry of Health safety guidelines as they wait on the government to send in more supplies to fill the gaps.

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