Concern as Kassanda registers more Ebola cases
Photo taken October 27, 2022 shows doctors and nurses, working at the isolation center attending a brief at the Mubende referral hospital, Mubende, Uganda. PHOTO/AFP
What you need to know:
- Previously, most of the Ebola cases were from Mubendi District.
The Ministry of Health has said it plans to set up an Ebola treatment centre in Kassanda District after recording a rise in cases of Ebola Virus Disease in the area.
According to Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, between Thursday and Friday last week, they recorded 12 confirmed cases of Ebola.
“We are beginning to have an Ebola explosion from Kassanda District. We have now decided to plan for an Ebola treatment unit in Kassanda because of the surge in the cases registered there,” she said.
The minister and other health officials were last week in the district on an awareness campaign about the disease.
Previously, most of the Ebola cases were from Mubendi District. For instance, between September 20 and October 2, the Kassanda District Ebola taskforce had registered three Ebola cases against the 29 cases for Mubende.
But the Mubende Regional Hospital Ebola treatment unit is now overwhelmed by both suspected and confirmed cases coming from Kassanda.
This came amid concerns that residents and leaders in the area are not cooperative in the fight against the disease.
“When a section of the leaders fail to cooperate with the health mobilisation teams, the affected communities become hostile to the teams. This we have witnessed in areas of Kikandwa, Myanzi and Kiganda sub-counties in Kassanda District,” Ms Phoebe Namulindwa, the chairperson of the Ebola taskforce in Kassanda District, revealed.
But the Kassanda political leadership led by the district chairperson, Mr Fred Zimula Kasirye, and a section of area Members of Parliament say there has been no coordination.
“We are not opposed to the Ministry of Health interventions but the health teams need to come up with the right messages,” Mr Kasirye said in an interview on Saturday.
“The political side was originally left out of the taskforce activities. I know that the government has released a lot of funds for this campaign but it is not yet on the ground,” he added.
He called on the ministry to deal with the elected political leaders to achieve the best results in the fight against Ebola. At the weekend, State Minister for Information and National Guidance Godfrey Kabyanga delivered relief food items to be distributed to the residents of Kassanda who, together with those of Mubende, are in a lockdown instituted to contain the disease.
