Ebola: Govt warns health workers against laxity

The Ministry of Health has urged medical workers across the country to be cautious while handling every patient as the country battles an outbreak of Ebola.

The Director General of Health Services, Dr Henry Mwebesa, said health workers should practice good infection prevention and control methods, especially after examining every patient.

Dr Mwebesa made the remarks at Uganda Martyrs University, Ngetta Campus – Lira City on Sunday. He was in the area together with other dignitaries to celebrate the successful completion of training of 168 community health extension workers in the area.

The six-month training, which started on May 2, comprised theoretical and practical work.

“You know you may say Ebola is in Mubende, Kasanda and Masaka. Maybe there are cases of Ebola in Kampala but you know movement in Uganda is very easy. For instance, when I travelled from Kampala, we could have come [here] with Ebola. There are very many people moving up and down,” Dr Mwebesa said.

“So, don’t relax and think Ebola is that side. You need to have a very high index of suspicion. Even you; because in the communities where you go, you don’t know the people you are dealing with. You may think it is fever and malaria when actually it could be Ebola,” he added.

Dr Mwebesa further requested the health officer for Lira District and Lira City to create a mechanism of telling health workers to have a very high index of suspicion.

“Of course it is hurting when we lose anybody to Ebola but it is even more hurting when we lose our health workers and we have already lost some,” Dr Mwebesa said.

“So, please tell our health workers to have very good infection prevention and control methods, especially after examining every patient to wash hands with water and soap and that will be a magic to protect our health workers.  And also Covid-19 is still around. So, we may need to also encourage our staff to take booster dozes and the whole community,” he added.

The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, also reminded people that while the country is faced with the Ebola crisis, Covid-19 is still around.

She said Covid vaccines are in every facility that provides vaccination to children, urging health workers to encourage the community to get vaccinated.

“This is because the Covid vaccine protects for a short time and it makes Covid [to behave] like flu. You may get a fever and suffer but you may not be admitted, which is what we want,” the minister said.

Dr Aceng added: “Right now in our neigbouring country – our neighbour to the east – the positivity rate has risen up to 9.4 per cent. We are at about 0.5 per cent. We start getting worried when the positivity rate clocks 5 percent. Usually we have a gap of three weeks. It will rise again and people will die.”

The outbreak of the Sudan strain of Ebola had, according to the Health ministry’s November 8 update, killed 54 out of 136 infected persons.