30 patients flee Kiryandongo over Ebola

Nov 15, 2000

OVER 30 panic-stricken patients have fled Kiryandongo Hospital, Masindi district, following an Ebola outbreak in the area.

By Vision Reporters OVER 30 panic-stricken patients have fled Kiryandongo Hospital, Masindi district, following an Ebola outbreak in the area. Of the 73 patients admitted for different ailments, 33 had left the hospital without permission, fearing to contract Ebola. Ebola was imported from Gulu to Masindi by a woman who escaped from Lacor hospital where she had been admitted over a stomach ailment. Ebola has killed four people there, all members of the same family. The family was of Kenyan origin. No new deaths and cases were reported yesterday. Dr. Henry Luwaga, the district director of health services, said scouts in Kiryandongo had identified some suspected cases. The chairman of the district Ebola task force, Mr. John Majara, said the Ebola treatment centre lacked water and sanitation facilities. But the chairman of the national Ebola task force, Dr. Sam Okware, said bore-hole drilling facilities would arrive at Kiryandongo Hospital today. Majara said 10 graves had been prepared at the hospital for emergency. A team has been trained on safe burial. A team had been trained on safe burial, he said. The Ministry of Health has released sh3m and promised another sh10m, an ambulance and a film van. Meanwhile, seven Kenyans who participated in the burial of the Masindi Ebola victims have returned to their country, triggering fears that they may have contracted the deadly virus. Okware said the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO) had warned Kenya about the possibility of the epidemic spilling over. He said the seven should be traced and monitored. The Kenyans came to Uganda on October 28 for the funerals of their relatives in Kaduku II, Kiija in Kigumba. They were Raphael Mulayi and his three wives from Yuodat in Mt Elgon district, Jackson Lubowa and his wife from Kitale in Tranzoia district and Jeoash Ekokwa from Nambale in Busia district. Health workers and experts from WHO, the US Centre for Disease Control and Medecins Sans Frontieres are monitoring another 150 people in Kigumba who might have contracted Ebola at the funerals. Okware said, "It appears the disease has now assumed an international scale. In Gulu and Mbarara, the control is going on well but unfortunately the outbreak in Masindi is giving us a lot of problems. Kigumba is a very complex area. "It has many nationalities and it is a very deprived area without facilities and infrastructure." The Masindi family of over 60 people kept the dead bodies for three days before burial. Okware urged sex workers and their clients in Mbarara, Gulu and Masindi to suspend their activities since indiscriminate bodily contact could spread Ebola. Meanwhile, the Director General Uganda Health Services, Prof. Francis Omaswa, has said the country is short of qualified health workers. He said more resources should be channelled towards recruiting and training more health workers and their pay should also be raised. Omaswa was yesterday speaking at a gender budget breakfast organised by the Forum for Women in Democracy. Swedish ambassador Hans Anderson was chief guest. "We thought the problem was money during the ban on recruitment. But after the ban, we have realised we have no qualified health workers. "We have to seriously engage on human resource development," Omaswa said. "Most of the health units are run by unqualified people, who are sometimes not paid for years, and they end up stealing drugs and charging patients informally. This should be addressed," he further said. Ends.

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