How prepared are we for another Covid-19 wave?

At a time like this last year, the nation was reeling from a Delta variant of Covid-19 that swept across the country killing many and affecting thousands of people.

 Coming in the second lockdown, the wave of this virus found the country ill prepared to handle mass infections let alone with the ability to manage cases at a grand scale.  The second wave got the government without adequate oxygen cylinders at hospitals, without enough admission beds at Intensive Care Unit facilities, and generally a weak logistical muscle even after soliciting resources from the public and receiving money from donors.  This forced citizens, who did not have the networks to secure the precious medical facilities, to secure private oxygen cylinders and some would move with them on pick-up trucks as they sought ICU beds; sometimes in vain. As a result, we were easily outstretched and many families had to pay hospital bills through the nose to enable their loved ones to breathe again the next day. The result was a financially brutalised society that resorted to herbs and prayer to live another day. Many people are yet to recover from this trauma and are yet to recover resources lost during that period.  Now reports from the Ministry of Health indicate that Kampala, Wakiso and Gulu have contributed 87 percent of cases of Covid-19 infections in the last seven days. Of the 572 cases registered between June 4 and June 10, Kampala contributed 431 cases, Wakiso (47) and Gulu (23).Other districts where infections have been reported include Jinja,Mbarara, Rubirizi, Mukono, Kabale, Lira, Kiruhura, Adjumani, Bududa, Kyotera, Mbale and Arua. As a result of this, health experts are now appealing for increased adherence to preventive measures and vaccination to minimise the effects of the pandemic. Important to note, and which should be painful to come to terms with, is that many families are struggling to make ends meet due to the high cost of living.  We simply cannot afford to battle another wave of the pandemic because we are weak in all areas. The government should assure the public that apart from the efforts to vaccinate an otherwise elusive public, hospital facilities have been improved to avoid the embarrassment we faced 12 months ago. We hope – and pray – that the pandemic does not explode to the proportions of last year, and should it be so, we should be prepared to fight better.