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Ebola fight: Dr Mathew Lukwiya to be remembered today
Dr Lukwiya left a Master’s course in Kampala to go and help in checking the outbreak of Ebola in Northern Uganda.
What you need to know:
- Dr David Meya, a specialist at the infectious disease institute and a lecturer is too grateful for the sacrifice of Dr Mathew Lukwiya.
- Dr Lukwiya was the last health worker at St. Mary's to die from Ebola.
- In February 2001, the American Medical Association named Dr Lukwiya a role model, an annual Dr. Matthew Lukwiya Memorial Lecture began the year after his death.
Kampala. Dr Mathew Lukwiya, the man who saved many lives in his fight against Ebola in 2000; and in doing so, he paid the ultimate price is set to be remembered today at the annual scientific health conference in Kampala.
The 12th annual scientific health conference ends today with the 15th Mathew Lukwiya Memorial lecture. The lecture will be delivered by guest speaker and World Health Organization official, Dr Peter Eriki.
Dr Mathew Lukwiya was a Ugandan physician and the supervisor of the St Marys Hospital, Lacor, outside of Gulu town. He led the battle against the Ebola virus outbreak in Uganda in the year 2000.
On the 8th October, Lukwiya informed staff of his suspicion that the illness ravaging scores of people in Gulu was a viral hemorrhagic fever. Reports of entire families dying in their villages sufficed.
Dr Mathew ignored the usual bureaucratic protocol and sought for help from Dr Sam Okware from the Uganda’s Commissioner of community health services who in turn dispatched a team from the Uganda virus research institute to take blood samples. By the time the team from the research institute arrived, Dr Lukwiya had already set up an isolation ward for suspected Ebola cases, in line with WHO guidelines.
Despite Lukwiyas best efforts, he failed to completely halt the spread of the Ebola disease. Dr Lukwiya however refused to give up in the fight against Ebola choosing to stay in the area where others sought to flee the devastation. Ultimately Dr Mathew Lukwiya paid with his life but his sacrifice led to the eventual containment of the Ebola virus in Northern Uganda.
He died on the 5th December 2000 he was 43 years of age. On 6 February 2001, the WHO declared that Uganda was Ebola-free, with no new cases in the previous 21 days. 173 people had died. While the survivability rate in previous Ebola outbreaks was as low as 10 per cent, the Ugandan outbreak had a survivability of nearly 50 per cent, an increase partially attributable to better health care.
Dr Lukwiya was the last health worker at St. Mary's to die from Ebola. In February 2001, the American Medical Association named Dr Lukwiya a role model, an annual Dr. Matthew Lukwiya Memorial Lecture began the year after his death. The lectures are sponsored by the World Health Organization and organized by the Uganda National Association of Community and Occupational Health.
“It’s a great sacrifice and we should all be grateful for the work that he did. It’s sad that he passed on doing his duty but that’s the duty we have been called for as medical practioners,” Dr Pauline Byakika, infectious disease specialist.
Dr David Meya, a specialist at the infectious disease institute and a lecturer is too grateful for the sacrifice of Dr Mathew Lukwiya.
“Just like the late John Kule who more recently lost his life in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This lecture will also be in remembrance of those doctors that died in the Ebola outbreak on West Africa doing their work.”
