{"id":2527,"date":"2021-01-19T19:35:44","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T19:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=2527"},"modified":"2021-01-19T17:47:04","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T17:47:04","slug":"internet-blackout-affects-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/internet-blackout-affects-patients","title":{"rendered":"Internet blackout affects patients"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>The Internet shutdown by government on January 13 significantly affected patients\u2019 access to doctors and acquisition of medical supplies by hospitals in the country, medical experts have revealed. Even as government restored Internet yesterday, online users are reporting that they cannot access some social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp even after paying the over-the-top (OTT) tax.<\/p>\n

Dr Susan Nakireka, the board chair of Uganda Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance, said a large number of patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension rely on platforms such as WhatsApp to update doctors and get instant advice on their health status.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our patients [with non-communicable diseases] were asked not to come to the hospital regularly because of Covid-19. [So] we have been managing them through WhatsApp,\u201d she said.The prevalence of diabetes in Uganda is estimated at 1.4 per cent, according to the latest study by Ministry of Health in 2014. Dr Nakireka said the Internet shutdown could result in worsening health conditions of some patients and increase death risks.<\/p>\n

About 40 per cent of the total deaths in the country in 2019 were due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), according to Mr Frank Mugabe, the principal medical officer at the Ministry of Health\u2019s division of NCDs. \u201cWe also train health workers to manage non-communicable diseases through Internet platforms such as Zoom. But with Internet blackout, you cannot do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr Emmanuel Tugainayo, the director of Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, said the results for samples from some Covid-19 suspects that were sent to laboratories for the Coronavirus testing could not be relayed back to the hospital due to the Internet blackout. He said they receive results from the Ministry of Health through email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. The Internet shutdown by government on January 13 significantly affected patients\u2019 access to doctors and acquisition of medical supplies by hospitals in the country, medical experts have revealed. Even as government restored Internet yesterday, online users are reporting that they cannot access some social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-2527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nInternet blackout affects patients - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Internet shutdown by government on January 13 significantly affected patients\u2019 access to doctors and acquisition of ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/internet-blackout-affects-patients\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Internet blackout affects patients\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Internet shutdown by government on January 13 significantly affected patients\u2019 access to doctors and acquisition of ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/internet-blackout-affects-patients\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-19T19:35:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/01\/img-60071af6ce536.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/internet-blackout-affects-patients#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/internet-blackout-affects-patients\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Internet blackout affects patients\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-19T19:35:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/internet-blackout-affects-patients\"},\"wordCount\":289,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/internet-blackout-affects-patients#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/01\/img-60071af6ce536.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/internet-blackout-affects-patients#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/internet-blackout-affects-patients\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/internet-blackout-affects-patients\",\"name\":\"Internet blackout affects patients - 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