Mulago hospital resumes normal services

HEALTH   COVID-19

KAMPALA - Mulago Hospital has resumed normal operations after most of the COVID-19 cases admitted at the hospital recovered, Dr Rosemary Byanyima, the deputy director of the hospital, has said.

While addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre on Friday, Byanyima said of the 359 COVID-19 cases they were treating, 340 have recovered, leaving them with only 19 active cases.

"When COVID-19 came, we scaled down on outpatient clients to attend to emergencies. Now we have opened up outpatient clinics.

We are returning to normalcy and statistics for outpatients which had gone down, are now increasing," she said.

Byanyima said the outpatient clinic is now open to the public and they have put in place measures to ensure that those seeking medical services are not exposed to or do not export the coronavirus to the hospital.

She said right from the entrance to the national referral hospital, they have placed temperature guns and facilities for washing hands, for the public.

When COVID-19 struck and Uganda started registering cases, Mulago was among the key treatment centres.

Being the only hospital in the country where majority medical specialists are found, Mulago handled most cases of COVID-19 patients with other life-threatening illnesses.

These illnesses such as high blood pressure, cancer, hypertension, obesity and diabetes put COVID-19 patients at a greater risk of being severely affected by the virus. Therefore, they need specialised care.

Dr Baterana Byarugaba, the hospital's director, appealed to the public not to suffer in silence but rather seek medical services from the hospital.

"We are treating other people too. Should you have a medical problem, please come to Mulago. None of our health workers or patients who were visiting the hospital got COVID-19. We do not want you to die," he reassured the public.

He noted that much as they received several severe cases of COVID-19, none degenerated to the Intensive Care Unit, noting that their specialist medics were quick to ensure that all patients are promptly attended to.

He premised their success in COVID-19 management and treatment on the government's quick imposition of the lockdown.

"The lockdown gave us a chance. Without it, the patients would have become too many, and if they become too many, they overwhelm the system. The beds would have become full. The lockdown helped to limit the number of people that get infected and we remain with a small number which is manageable," he said.

He rallied behind government's phased lifting of the lockdown, saying it curtails the spread of the virus.

"We support government on the phased unlocking and opening up the country so that many people do not get infected," he said.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Uganda as of yesterday stood at 1,065. Current active cases on admission are 136. These include 115 Ugandans, 19 foreigners and two refugees. Total recoveries are now 1071.

The cumulative total samples tested in Uganda to date are over 238,709, making it the fifth country in Africa with the highest number of tests.

South Africa leads with 2.3 million samples followed by Morocco at 953,715 samples, Ghana with 339,491 samples and Ethiopia with 250,604 samples tested.

Uganda has no deaths due to COVID-19 and it is the only East African country with no deaths. 

Kenya which has the highest cases in the region has so far registered 234 deaths, as of July 20 this year.