NMG joins campaign to supply oxgyen to hospitals

Left to right: Ms Aminah Nanyondo, the business development manager of FREO2 Foundation; Dr Eleanor Nakintu, the director of Babies and Mothers Alive; Ms Sheillah Bagayana Mutetire, the FREO2 Foundation country manager; and Ms Proscovia Nabatte,the head of communications of the campaign, address journalists at the Resilient Africa Network Offices in Kololo, Kampala, on Monday. PHOTO/STEPHEN OTAGE.

What you need to know:

  • Meanwhile, NMG-U has sponsored the Annual Muslim Run, aiming to construct the first Muslim Babies Home in Uganda through charity proceeds from the run.

Nation Media Group-Uganda (NMG-U) has pledged to use its media platforms to rally the country to ensure that there is free and sustainable access to oxygen in health facilities.

Mr Joshua Esau, the brand manager of Monitor Publications Limited, an NMG-U company, said NMG-U will provide all its platforms which include the Daily Monitor, Dembe FM, KFM, NTV-Uganda, Enyandda, and Nation Courier Uganda to campaign for free medical oxygen at health facilities.

“As a media house, we understand the challenges the communities go through and we are using this as an opportunity to rally the rest of the country for joint effort to help the communities and also physically engage and interact with our audiences,” he said.

Addressing journalists on Monday, Dr Eleanor Nakintu, the director of Babies and Mothers Alive, said they will launch the campaign at Igongo Cultural and Country Hotel in Mbarara City today during a conference under the theme “Breath of Life: Sustainably scaling oxygen access in Uganda”.

“The conference will bring oxygen partners, funders, clinicians, academics, innovators, and government institutions together to address the need for increased access to reliable oxygen at the under-resourced periphery of Uganda’s health services,” she said.

Dr Nakintu said for the past two years, FREO2 Foundation, in collaboration with Babies and Mothers Alive, the Ministry of Health, Grand Challenges Canada and other partners have been training more than 500 health workers in pulse oximetry, oxygen therapy delivery, servicing and delivery of oxygen equipment.

She said many oxygen cylinders malfunction because of lack of specialised personnel to handle them. She said sometimes medical personnel think they have put patients on oxygen therapy and yet the cylinders are not discharging the oxygen. 

She blamed this on health facilities not servicing the cylinders to ensure that they are not blocked by dust, among other things. She added that power cuts have also been a big issue since the medical workers forget to restart the systems.

Muslim Run
Meanwhile, NMG-U has sponsored the Annual Muslim Run, aiming to construct the first Muslim Babies Home in Uganda through charity proceeds from the run.

The run is scheduled to take place on October 2 at 6:30am, with the starting and finishing point at the Sheraton Gardens. The run will feature 5km, 10km, and 15km races. 

As the media sponsor, NMG-U has called upon Ugandans to participate in the run.