Kasese steps up response to Covid-19

HEALTH|COVID-19

Kasese district has stepped up its quick response in early diagnosis and treatment of Covid-19.

Yusuf Baseke the District Health Officer (DHO) Kasese says that his office together with the district Covid-19 taskforce have reactivated the disease surveillance systems and community sensitization.

This comes at a time when Covid-19 cases in Kasese are soaring at a very high rate.

Figures from the ministry of health indicate that Kasese district is number four in registering large numbers of new cases. Kasese comes after Kampala, Wakiso and Kabarole.

"We have reactivated all our surveillance systems to make sure that we collect samples on time, refer them to the lab for testing and later on be able to receive the results before it's too late" Baseke said.

This he said will help the district to ably do the contact tracing for proper isolation.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Baseke has attributed the increase in the number of cases to the laxity by the community to adhere to the Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures that were issued by government through the ministry of health.

"Most people had in the recent past refused to wear their masks in addition to deliberately failing to maintain the required social distance" he said.

Baseke also said attributed the soaring cases to a possibility that some dead bodies that could have unknowingly been claimed by Covid-19 were mishandled by the community.

"It is possible that some community members died of Covid-19 and were buried before a diagnosis was done and due to lack of information the SOPs were not followed during burial" he said.

Effecting referrals a challenge

Baseke disclosed that Kasese district until now still lack an intensive care unit.

He explained that all the severe cases are still being referred to the Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital in Kabarole district which is about 70km from Kasese.

"We are implementing home-based treatment and also relying on Bwera hospital for treatment. Only severe cases are being referred to the Fort Portal" he said.

He however added that some of the referral cases are being frustrated by the delays in securing an ambulance.

Huge gatherings being discouraged

Lt Joe Walusimbi the Kasese Resident district Commissioner and chairperson of the district Covid-19 taskforce says that whereas government allowed gatherings of at least 200 people, the district taskforce has further downsized the number.

"We are no longer considering a gathering of 200 people as per the ministry of health guidelines. As a taskforce we resolved that a gathering must have a maximum of 100 people" Walusimbi said.

He added that the district is also developing a proposal of discouraging the cooking of food at funerals.

"We want funerals to again be conducted during morning hours so that very few people congregate and even then the communal sharing of meals after burial should  be halted since it's a leading factor of congestion" he said.

Village taskforces reactivated

Walusimbi says that the district has already reactivated all the Sub County Covid-19 taskforces to help in community sensitization and surveillance.

"We want to create awareness in each and every part of this district. This will be done through the community leaders he said.

Walusimbi said that although the Covid-19 situation in Kasese seems overwhelming, all stakeholders are trying their best to contain the situation.

Community warned against stigma

Walusimbi has warned the community against stigmatising victims of Covid19.

"The Covid19 victims especially those under the homecare treatment should not be rejects in the community" he warned.

He has appealed to the community to understand the fact that government cannot afford to have everybody in the hospital hence the homecare treatment.