Covid-19 suspected patients turn violent

Security has been beefed up at Pabbo Secondary School in Amuru District, where a Covid-19 quarantine centre has been established.

Daily Monitor has learnt that the quarantine centre, which hosts about 16 people suspected to have come in contact with Covid-19 patients, is experiencing some challenges, with some people at the centre turning violent to both health workers and district officials demanding for things like alcohol and other substances.

The people held at the centre are mainly suspected to have come in contact with a Kenyan truck driver, who on Monday tested positive of Covid-19 at Elegu border point in Amuru District.

According to Ms Linda Auma, the Amuru Resident District Commissioner and the head of the district Covid 19 taskforce, they are considering having counsellors at the centre to speak to the people held under quarantine.

“They demand to be given alcohol and miraa, arguing that in their entire life, they have been on such substances and they cannot even go for a day without them,’ ’she said, adding that they had become a problem to the workers and have in some cases tried to block other services being given to other people under quarantine.

For that matter, Ms Auma said, they had decided to beef up security at as a stop gap that would prevent destruction of property.

“It is so challenging to both health workers who keep on checking on their temperatures from time-to-time and to those who give them food,” she said.

Dr Patrick Okello Olwedo, the Amuru District Health Officer, told Saturday Monitor that they are also trying to get mental health experts to speak to them.

“As medics, we are trying our level best to speak to them so that they have hope as they are under quarantine,’’ he said, noting that whereas the suspected patients have made a number of demands, not all can be given to them.