Specialist doctor in Mbarara succumbs to COVID-19

HEALTH  | MBARARA
A specialist doctor at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital has become the first medic to succumbed to COVID-19 in the western region.

This was confirmed both by the hospital director, Dr. Celestine Barigye, and Lt.Col.James Mwesigye, the RDC Mbarara and head of Mbarara District COVID Task Force.

Dr. Peter Mugisha, a skin specialist, had been admitted at the hospital with breathing complications since Saturday.

"He came here on Saturday night with difficulty in breathing. He could hardly breathe without oxygen. We carried out a CT scan and diagnosed symptoms similar to #COVID19. We, then, took his swab samples to Kampala. Unfortunately he died today (Monday September 7, 2020) morning and the results have shown he was Coronavirus positive," Dr. Barigye said.

Dr. Mugisha, who has been a lecturer at Mbarara University of Science and Technology, has also been a skin specialist (Dermatologist). What is alarming to the COVID19 task force, however, is how and where he might have contracted the virus. The task force confirmed that Dr Mugisha was not one of the health workers treating COVID19 patients.

"I thought he was one of the health workers responsible for the COVID19 work but I've come to learn he wasn't. So it seems he contracted the virus like the rest of us could catch it," Mwesigye said.




He also cautioned other health workers and the general public to observe the Standard Operating Procedures set in place to combat the spread of the disease.

"This is a sign to confirm that we're living with COVID-19; it has started gaining strength and I think this is because people have stopped listening and have started taking this disease so unserious," Mwesigye said.

Mugisha's death comes just two days after Dr Patrick Odongo, a senior medical officer at Lira Regional Referral Hospital, succumbed to the same disease.

Meanwhile, Dr Barigye also confirmed that a nurse at the hospital, who had earlier tested positive for the virus but was  asymptomatic without any alarming signs, was now well and back at work.

"The disease has infiltrated us in the hospital and I am now requesting all people to first of all;  put on their masks because the disease is inside the hospital and secondly wash your hands and make sure your temperatures are recorded," Barigye said.

By yesterday evenning, Uganda had so far confirmed 3,776 COVID-19 cases, with 44 deaths.