Government pays Ebola risk money

THE Government has begun paying extra allowances to medical workers who attend to Ebola patients, health ministry officials said yesterday, reports Charles Wendo. The assistant commissioner for national disease control, Dr. Alex Opio, said the medical workers were being paid daily using the funds given to the districts for Ebola control. He said personnel was a very important component in the fight against the epidemic. Opio, however, declined to disclose how much the medical staff was being paid, but field officials said the figure is between sh10,000 and 15,000 per worker per day. "They are being paid allowances which other health workers are not getting. I do not want to call it a risk allowance. Even the volunteers from other districts are going to be paid," he said. The overall death toll from Ebola yesterday rose to 161 after one more patient was reported dead between Friday and yesterday. Five more patients in Gulu and two in Masindi were admitted since Friday, bringing the total number of people who have contracted the disease to 413. Opio said practically Ebola is only in Gulu and Masindi since no new case had been detected in Mbarara for six weeks. "The situation has become very encouraging. If things go on like this for a few weeks, we may be able to record zero cases on a persistent basis. We will continue with the efforts until 42 days after the last case," Opio said. He said over 20 medical workers had volunteered to go to Gulu and Masindi. He said the first batch of volunteers would leave for Masindi today. Meanwhile, Second Deputy Premier Moses Ali yesterday said the Government had released sh5m to the family of the late Dr. Lukwiya. Speaking at a memorial service at the All Saints Cathedral, Ali said education state minister Betty Akech had delivered the money yesterday. In his condolence message, President Museveni promised to compensate all families of health workers who die of Ebola. Mrs. Margaret Lukwiya said her husband knew he might die of the disease but proceeded to Gulu to treat the patients. He was in Kampala at the time of the outbreak. "Before my husband left for Gulu, he said this to me, 'Educate my children and let them grow in the knowledge of God.' This made me know he knew of the dangers awaiting him," Margaret said. "My dear Mathew died worrying not for himself, but for others. He wanted nobody to die of Ebola. Let us not render his service worthless. Let us fight Ebola until it is eradicated," she added. Ends.