Govt delivers four boat ambulances to islands

Government has delivered at least four of fourteen boat ambulances in a bid to ease access to medical care amongst people living on the islands.

Ministry pf health spokesperson, Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona August 22 said that the boat ambulances ‘‘were delivered at the Marines Pier in Entebbe to support emergency medical services in the islands.’’

“The fleet will comprise of 14 boat ambulances to respond to health emergencies among the island communities,” he said in a tweet.

Mr Ainebyoona last month noted that about eleven boat ambulances are also in transit.

“These were acquired by Ministry of Health with funding from Gavi,” he explained without disclosing how much was spent to procure the rides.

The delivery comes at a time when scientists are warning of a severe Covid-19 third wave.

Projections by scientists show that in the event of a third wave, 4,000 people will contract the virus daily.

“This means that 15 per cent of the patients will require admission at the health facility and about 89,311 patients may require High Dependency Unit/Intensive Care unit admissions,”  Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health minister said last week.

Dr Henry Kajumbula, the head of Covid-19 prevention in the scientific advisory committee asked government to increase vaccine coverage and called upon Ugandans to increase adherence to Covid-19 preventive measures to minimise the effects of the third wave.

Since the start of Covid-19 vaccination on March 10, the country has only managed to vaccinate over 1,297, 726 people, that against the target of 22 million that should be vaccinated to safely reopen the economy.

Since the onset of the pandemic last year, a total of 118,777 cases of Covid-19 infections and 2, 960 deaths have been registered in the country, as of August 24.

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