Africa-Press – Uganda. Dr Lulume, who was reacting to a complaint raised by the Bbaale Health Centre IV Covid -19 focal person, Mr James Kenyi, that they don’t have an ambulance to transport the Covid- 19 referral cases to better health units and use boda -bodas to transport them, said the act was increasing community infections .
Legislators on the Parliamentary Covid-19 taskforce were on Monday shocked when they discovered that health facilities in Kayunga District are not yet ready to handle surging Covid-19 cases in the area.
The legislators led by Buikwe South MP, Dr Lulume Bayiga, who were assessing the readiness of health facilities in the district to handle Covid -19 cases discovered that besides being ill-equipped, the entire district lacks a standby ambulance to transport Covid-19 positive patients to treatment centres.
At Bbaale Health Centre IV, the lawmakers who were accompanied by the area MP, Mr Charles Tebandeke, discovered that the facility lacks an isolation room for Covid-19 patients and the health workers last received personal protective equipment such as facemasks and sanitizers in December last year.
“We have found out that the health workers are willing to work but they don’t have medical equipment to use. It is like sending a soldier to the frontline without a gun,” Mr Tebandeke noted.
Dr Lulume, who was reacting to a complaint raised by the Bbaale Health Centre IV Covid -19 focal person, Mr James Kenyi, that they don’t have an ambulance to transport the Covid- 19 referral cases to better health units and use boda -bodas to transport them, said the act was increasing community infections .
“Something urgent needs to be done to stop this method of carrying patients on motorcycles. How can such a big district with a regional referral hospital lack an ambulance?” Mr Joseph Gozanga Ssewungu (Kalungu West MP) asked.
Dr Lulume noted that they have discovered that there is no any referral mechanism in the district with the situation exacerbated by the poor road infrastructure.
Kayunga District has three constituencies, but it is only Ntenjeru North that has an ambulance which was donated by area MP and state minister Finance, Mr Amos Lugoloobi.
Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital currently operates without an ambulance after the one that was donated by the government broke down a year ago.
Dr Johnnie Mulwana, the Kayunga Regional Referral Hospital acting director, told MPs that the Ministry of Health is planning to set up a Covid-19 treatment centre at the facility by utilising some of the empty wards.
However, Dr Mulwana noted the facility lacks an oxygen plant and they are still operating with staff of a district hospital.
Kayunga Hospital, constructed in the 1970s, was last year elevated to a regional hospital after benefiting from a Shs70b rehabilitation and expansion project. Previously, residents had been forced to travel to Kawolo Hospital in Buikwe District and Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala to seek better treatment.
