ICU equipment lie idle at Arua hospital amid Covid pandemic

Leaders in Arua District have decried the slow installation of equipment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Arua Regional Referral Hospital.
The facility will serve patients from 12 districts, Arua City, DR Congo and South Sudan.
When Daily Monitor visited the facility last week, many beds were empty and a few machines were partially connected while others had their cables hanging over them. Many were covered in dust.
Dr Filbert Nyeko, the hospital director, said they are treating intensive care patients in the mental ward since the ICU is not ready for use.
He added that even the beds from government were partially installed.
 “We were promised 10 ICU beds but we received eight. We had nowhere to set up the eight beds but we evacuated patients in one ward to have them installed. They have been installed partially and none can be used as an ICU bed but we can use them in high dependency,” Dr Nyeko said.
He added: “We are not sure of when the installations will be complete because there is no information from the ministry.”
Dr Nyeko said at least 391 Covid-19 cases have been treated at the facility to date. Out of this, 299 recovered, 10 were referred and 44 died while two people escaped.
By Thursday last week, there were 35 Covid-19 patients admitted to the facility.
The chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Covid-19, Dr Charles Ayume, confirmed that more beds need to be installed in order for the facility to begin its operations.
 “We will follow this up to ensure that the ICU beds are fully installed and become functional soon. These are necessary components to save lives of people.”
Last year, Dr Charles Olaro, the director of clinical services (curative) at the Health ministry, told Daily Monitor that each hospital is getting at least 10 ICU beds.
Mr Olaro said 145 beds are currently available to be installed and the country already had 135 ICU beds in different health facilities before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
“We have completed Jinja hospital, Lira hospital, Entebbe Grade B hospital, Naguru hospital and St Mary’s Hospital, Lacor,” he said.
Arua hospital is also struggling with a shortage of oxygen as the number of people who require the product increases.
The facility has an oxygen plant which produces about 40 cylinders of oxygen.
COVID CASES
•The acting Arua District health officer, Mr Bishop Drileba, said since the second wave was announced, they have tested 3,199 samples. Out of these 482 were positive.

•In Terego, the acting district health officer, Mr Mathew Bakole, said since the Covid-19 outbreak was declared, they have so far tested 117 positive cases with three deaths and four under home-based care.