No protective gear no work, doctors tell government
Medical personnel. Doctors conduct an operation at Mulago hospital in 2014. Health workers say they lack enough protective gear to respond to coronavirus. Photo by Rachel Mabala
What you need to know:
- Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Ministry of Health senior spokesperson, yesterday said they had received several donations which had some of those items.
He asked the doctors to make their requests to their respective district health officers so that they can be attended to. - Mr Ainebyoona said the ministry’s Director General of Health Services, Dr Henry Mwebesa, had written asking districts to update his office what their needs are so that they are helped.
Health workers under their umbrella Uganda Medical Association (UMA) have warned government that they will boycott work if they are not given equipment to protect them against the risk of coronavirus infection as they attend to patients.
Dr Muhereza Mukuzi, UMA secretary general, yesterday said health workers will not risk their lives unless they are provided with equipment such as gloves, masks and face shields.
He said in some cases, doctors have, against the recommended practice, had to reuse the personal protective equipment (PPEs) to economise, something he said should stop.
“A dead doctor doesn’t help himself neither his family. It is important to protect yourself and then you can protect others. No Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), no work. You are not going to be a dead hero. We are not going to work like that. Even before Coronavirus, National Medical Stores was a pain. It was not supplying all the basic equipment like gloves to all who need them,” Dr Mukuzi said.
He added: “I am a practitioner. I know what I go through routinely. That was before Covid-19. We have compromised. We have improvised. But it is not worth it. If it is HIV, malaria testing I can compromise. But I shouldn’t compromise to go and kill myself.
No practitioner should do that. We are calling upon government and private employers, if you want your clinic open, have adequate protection to your workers.”
Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Ministry of Health senior spokesperson, yesterday said they had received several donations which had some of those items.
He asked the doctors to make their requests to their respective district health officers so that they can be attended to.
Mr Ainebyoona said the ministry’s Director General of Health Services, Dr Henry Mwebesa, had written asking districts to update his office what their needs are so that they are helped.
“The minister is going to present before Parliament this afternoon (yesterday). Some of those issues are addressed. We got a lot of donations. We now have plenty of gloves and masks,” Mr Ainebyoona said.
Last week, the Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, while addressing the nation, said only doctors who are taking samples from suspected Covid-19 patients for testing and those treating the confirmed cases would receive Personal Protective Equipment from government.
“Not everybody needs masks. Only medical officers getting into close contact with Covid-19 patients need them. But if some people want masks, they can purchase them and do not wait for the government. Our own company Nytil has started making face masks and they are being sold cheaply,” Dr Aceng said.
Addressing the nation last week, President Museveni also said he had received information from Ministry of Health indicating that the health workers only have 10 per cent of what they require to do their work.
He added that while government had ordered for some equipment, local factories would soon start manufacturing some of the items such as face masks, face shields and gloves.
“The Ministry of Health has given a list of some equipment they have. They have like 10 per cent of what is required. But they are working on getting the rest. I am also working with our scientists and factories to produce much of it here. We have the factories. Our scientists are going to give them specifications,” Mr Museveni said last week.
Today marks nine days into total lockdown and curfew expected to last 14 days.
The measures were introduced in the hope of containing the spread of Covid-19 with now 52 confirmed cases in the country.
Government gave exceptions for categories of people who should continue working, including health workers.
However, there have been reports of breach by security officers who block authorised categories of people from proceeding to their workplaces, especially if they live and work in different districts.
Also, a few doctors have been arrested during curfew hours because they delayed in hospitals attending to emergence cases beyond 7pm.
Dr Diana Atwine, the Ministry of Health permanent secretary, said these will soon be history after they requested their counterparts in the Ministry of Transport to give them more stickers to ease their movement.
She said they gave out 2,000 stickers to health workers around Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso districts but they were not enough.
“The incidences will go reducing as they get stickers. We have informed the Ministry of Transport that is responsible. We cannot give every person because Mulago alone has 2,000 workers,” Dr Atwine said.
Mr Mukuzi warned that majority of health workers don’t have personal cars and should also be taken care of with transport during this period.
The President continues to assure people that if the public observes precautions issued by ministry of Health, the country will defeat the virus which has so far claimed over 40,000 lives and infected over one million people globally.
He asked the public to cooperate with government by staying home in the 14 days of lockdown to enable the ministry detect cases of those who could have already contracted the disease from those infected but are still in the community so that they can be isolated and treated.
