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Two Covid-19 patients admitted to Masaka Hospital
A Burundian refugee who tested positive for coronavirus being sprayed by a doctor at Masaka regional hospital COVID 19 treatment centre on April 21, 2020. PHOTO BY ISSA ALIGA
What you need to know:
- Dr Mark Jjuuko, the officer in-charge of Masaka Hospital Coronavirus Isolation Centre, said the hospital has built capacity to handle Covid-19 patients without necessarily referring them to either Mulago National Referral Hospital or Entebbe Hospital.
- More than 100 people who were under quarantine at the facility after being suspected of having got in contact with Covid-19 patients, have since been discharged.
Two positive Covid-19 patients have been admitted to Masaka Regional Referral hospital for treatment.
These include; a Ugandan male aged 24 and a male Burundian refugee aged 21. Both patients are contacts of a Burundian refugee, 46, who was transferred to the facility from Rakai District last week.
According to the director Masaka Regional Referral hospital, Dr Nathan Onyachi, the new patients were received on Thursday evening.
“Our isolation centre is currently taking care of three Covid-19 patients and we have put them on treatment,” he said by telephone on Friday morning.
The first patient reportedly entered Uganda in early March seeking for asylum and was taken to Nakivale Refugee Resettlement camp before sneaking out of the camp. Later, he reportedly went to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, but on coming back, he illegally entered through Mutukula border and was arrested by police at Ntantamukye Village in Rakai District.
Dr Onyachi said the first patient is stable and responding to treatment.
“We are treating the symptoms the patient had and when he completes his second week on Tuesday, we will test him again to see if he is positive or negative,” he said.
Dr Onyachi said they are currently having one Covid-10 suspected case as they wait for the results.
Dr Mark Jjuuko, the officer in-charge of Masaka Hospital Coronavirus Isolation Centre, said the hospital has built capacity to handle Covid-19 patients without necessarily referring them to either Mulago National Referral Hospital or Entebbe Hospital.
More than 100 people who were under quarantine at the facility after being suspected of having got in contact with Covid-19 patients, have since been discharged.
