Ebola outbreak: Escaping from hospital is reckless, dangerous

Ugandan Medical staff members assemble beds to be used in the Ebola treatment Isolation Unit at Mubende regional referral hospital in Uganda on September 24, 2022. PHOTO/AFP

What you need to know:

The issue: 
Ebola outbreak. 

Our view:  
Once you have been categorised as a suspect, follow the doctors’ advice and allow to be isolated away from your family and community. This not only keeps your loved ones safe, but allows you to get treatment early enough in case your results come back positive.

Last week, government confirmed the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Uganda after a 24-year-old male resident of Madudu Sub-county, Mubende District, tested positive. 
Since then, Ministry of Health says about 34 cases have been registered, with 16 confirmed and 18 probable. There are 21 cumulative deaths (five confirmed, 17 probable).

The ministry has moved fast to avert the situation from getting worse, with Health permanent secretary Diana Atwine on Friday using her Twitter account to assure Ugandans that, “There is no need for panic about the ongoing Ebola outbreak. Everything is under control in Mubende and neighbouring affected districts. Just take extra caution at individual level, as per the shared preventive guidelines.” 
According to Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng, by yesterday morning Uganda had four districts with confirmed Ebola cases. 
But as government moves to equip and strengthen the capacity of the health facilities in the affecting districts, a very disturbing trend is emerging. Suspected Ebola patients are escaping from these facilities and going back to the communities.

Of the seven suspected cases that escaped from the Mubende hospital isolation facility last week, the one whose results later turned out positive has not yet been found. Also this week, another Ebola suspect escaped from the isolation centre at Rukoki Health Centre, Kasese District.  
Some of these suspects escape thinking they will seek treatment from herbalists back in their communities. But what the public needs to know is that escaping from treatment centre increases ones risk of dying, and transmitting it to our loved ones and the public.

Experts say when detected and treated early, the risk of dying from Ebola is significantly reduced because Ugandan doctors are some of the most experienced in the continent when it comes to treating the disease.
Our appeal is that once you have been categorised as a suspect, follow the doctors’ advice and allow to be isolated away from your family and community. This not only keeps your loved ones safe, but allows you to get treatment early enough in case your results come back positive. We appeal to the authorities to strengthen security around these isolation centres to ensure that those committed there are kept there until doctors think it is safe for them to go home. Ministry of Health should also ramp up mass education efforts about Ebola. 

Ebola spreads quickly from person to person and kills within a short time. However, it is preventable. Follow the guidelines from the experts, and most importantly, stay in isolation facilities if it is what the doctors recommend. Attempting to treat yourself from home not only endangers your loved ones, but the entire community.