Two years on after Ebola in Bundibugyo
Aug 09, 2009
AS night falls in Bundibugyo district, in western Uganda, tucked along the DR Congo border, bright lights and blaring music from the bars and restaurants signal the start of yet another evening of partying. It is not yet Christmas time, but the Bamba and
By Frederick Womakuyu
AS night falls in Bundibugyo district, in western Uganda, tucked along the DR Congo border, bright lights and blaring music from the bars and restaurants signal the start of yet another evening of partying.
Men and women, with bare chests, sweat dripping from their brow, dance to the latest throbs of Lingala from the DR Congo as if it were the end of the world. Drunk, they stagger and fall on the roadside, yet make it home.
Some sing hymns meant for boosting morale of soldiers at war.
It is not yet Christmas time, but the Bamba and Bakonjo have every reason to celebrate. They have bitter memories to bury behind. them.
It is two years since ebola killed 38 people and infected 153 others in Bundibugyo alone. At Bundibugyo Hospital, all the health workers fled when the medical superintendent, Dr. Stephen Sesanga, contracted the deadly virus while five health workers lost their lives.
“The local people stopped coming to the health centre. They did not trust anybody, including the doctors,†Sesanga says. “Some started treating themselves with herbs. Some survived, others died.â€
Sophia Biira, the sister to the late Dr. Jonah Kule, the medical doctor who got ebola while on duty, stayed away from the public for three months.
“Everybody thought the whole family had also contracted it. Even relatives could not visit us,†Biira recalls.
The district could not contain the outbreak because the health facilities were under equipped, they even lacked surgical gloves.
Kikyo Health Centre IV, where the first case of ebola was admitted, became an isolation centre for 91 of the 153 ebola cases registered. Although it was supposed to have a doctor, it had none at the time of the epidemic.
Julius Monday, the head of the centre, says Bundibugyo is a hard-to-reach-place, with minimal social services like electricity, accommodation and markets.
“It is hard to attract and retain staff. Recently, the World Health Organisation recruited a doctor and offered him a good salary, accommodation and vehicle, but he left abruptly,†Monday says.
However, the staff positions at Kikyo have risen from 16% to 33%.
Bundibugyo Hospital recruited three doctors, but one has since left. The hospital still needs five doctors to be prepared in case another disease breaks out.
Although health workers are more sensitive to mysterious illnesses, the shortage of staff and inadequate supplies still remains.
At Nyahuka Health Centre IV, there is no staff doctor after the one they had left for greener pastures in Rwanda,†says Charles Ngwabusa, a clinical officer at the Centre. Health workers at Kikyo and Bundibugyo Hospital say they lack gloves.
“We ran out of surgical gloves and are now using disposable gloves bought by patients. If a patient does not buy gloves, we do not attend to him,†says Gertrude Tavet, a nurse at Bundibugyo Hospital.
The Bundibugyo chief administrative officer, Elias Byamungu, says the health ministry has set up an epidemic testing machine at the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe.
“This will help us detect and report epidemics. The budget allocated to the ministry has increased by 3%. We hope to recruit more health workers and stock health facilities with enough drugs and protective gear.â€
AS night falls in Bundibugyo district, in western Uganda, tucked along the DR Congo border, bright lights and blaring music from the bars and restaurants signal the start of yet another evening of partying.
Men and women, with bare chests, sweat dripping from their brow, dance to the latest throbs of Lingala from the DR Congo as if it were the end of the world. Drunk, they stagger and fall on the roadside, yet make it home.
Some sing hymns meant for boosting morale of soldiers at war.
It is not yet Christmas time, but the Bamba and Bakonjo have every reason to celebrate. They have bitter memories to bury behind. them.
It is two years since ebola killed 38 people and infected 153 others in Bundibugyo alone. At Bundibugyo Hospital, all the health workers fled when the medical superintendent, Dr. Stephen Sesanga, contracted the deadly virus while five health workers lost their lives.
“The local people stopped coming to the health centre. They did not trust anybody, including the doctors,†Sesanga says. “Some started treating themselves with herbs. Some survived, others died.â€
Sophia Biira, the sister to the late Dr. Jonah Kule, the medical doctor who got ebola while on duty, stayed away from the public for three months.
“Everybody thought the whole family had also contracted it. Even relatives could not visit us,†Biira recalls.
The district could not contain the outbreak because the health facilities were under equipped, they even lacked surgical gloves.
Kikyo Health Centre IV, where the first case of ebola was admitted, became an isolation centre for 91 of the 153 ebola cases registered. Although it was supposed to have a doctor, it had none at the time of the epidemic.
Julius Monday, the head of the centre, says Bundibugyo is a hard-to-reach-place, with minimal social services like electricity, accommodation and markets.
“It is hard to attract and retain staff. Recently, the World Health Organisation recruited a doctor and offered him a good salary, accommodation and vehicle, but he left abruptly,†Monday says.
However, the staff positions at Kikyo have risen from 16% to 33%.
Bundibugyo Hospital recruited three doctors, but one has since left. The hospital still needs five doctors to be prepared in case another disease breaks out.
Although health workers are more sensitive to mysterious illnesses, the shortage of staff and inadequate supplies still remains.
At Nyahuka Health Centre IV, there is no staff doctor after the one they had left for greener pastures in Rwanda,†says Charles Ngwabusa, a clinical officer at the Centre. Health workers at Kikyo and Bundibugyo Hospital say they lack gloves.
“We ran out of surgical gloves and are now using disposable gloves bought by patients. If a patient does not buy gloves, we do not attend to him,†says Gertrude Tavet, a nurse at Bundibugyo Hospital.
The Bundibugyo chief administrative officer, Elias Byamungu, says the health ministry has set up an epidemic testing machine at the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe.
“This will help us detect and report epidemics. The budget allocated to the ministry has increased by 3%. We hope to recruit more health workers and stock health facilities with enough drugs and protective gear.â€