Africa-Press – Uganda. Authorities and staff at the newly elevated Luweero District hospital are struggling to cope with an acute shortage of Personal Protection Equipment (PPEs) as they have been used in the Covid-19 isolation facility.
The PPEs supplied under the normal medicine-delivery chain were channeled to an emergency Covid-19 facility that has since treated more than 35 Coronavirus patients in the last three weeks.
“We had to prioritize the Covid-19 patients ward for the PPEs to ensure that the health teams attending to the patients are not exposed to the highly infectious disease. It is unfortunate that the rest of the departments have run short of the PPEs,” Dr Innocent Nkonwa the Medical Superintendent told a contingent from the Luweero District Administration on Monday.
Highlighting the neeed for urgent medical supplies, Dr Nkonwa explained that ‘‘the stores are almost dry yet they expect the next delivery of essential drugs including the PPEs in mid-July.’’
‘‘The situation is not good. We have to keep work going on and also ensure that our staff are not at risk of infection from many other diseases at the different departments of the Hospital,’’ he said.
The facility that has at least 35 Covid-19 patients currently admitted- has also registered four Coronavirus related deaths while more than 20 patients have been discharged, the hospital administration indicates.
During the visit, this reporter witnessed health teams working in risky environments without sufficient PPEs.
“Luweero hospital needs a special commitment from government in terms of essential drugs supplies, human resource and infrastructure. We need to devise means to have the PPEs and drugs delivered to stop the risk of high exposure to infections. The District Service Commission should ensure that more staff are recruited within the set structure,” Luweero District Woman legislator Ms Brenda Nabukenya told the visiting team at the Hospital.
Out of the infirmary’s recommended staff structure of at least 190 staff, Luweero Hospital has 116 employees with lack of staff accommodation hinted on amongst the major challenges at the facility. Only 19 out of the 116 staff are accommodated at the facility.
