Ebola outbreak: Kabarole RDC urges locals to be vigilant
KABAROLE– The Kabarole Resident District Commissioner, Festus Bandeeba has asked locals in his district to be vigilant and report any suspected cases of Ebola to the authorities.
Bandeeba who doubles as the chairperson of Ebola task force in the district said Ebola is a deadly disease, which spreads easily through direct contact with infected persons but can easily be prevented by observing the standard operating procedures [SOPs].
He said this during the Ebola task force meeting held at the district headquarters on Tuesday.
Bandeeba said though Kabarole district has no confirmed Ebola case, there are two suspected Ebola cases being isolated at the Fort Portal Regional Referral hospital [FRRH] awaiting results from the Uganda Virus Research Institute [UVRI].
“We have two suspected Ebola cases, one is of a 14-year-old girl from Kasenda Sub-county who presented signs of Ebola and another one is of a woman from Kijura who was admitted … with related signs but she, unfortunately, died one day after admission,” he said.
He however noted that the body of a woman who passed on with signs of Ebola is being kept at the FRRH mortuary as they wait for the results to determine the mode of burial.
Bandeeba said they are now targeting schools, market places, boda boda stages, churches, mosques, and bus terminals among public places for sensitisation on Ebola prevention.
The Kabarole district surveillance officer, Dr.Mathius Tumwebaze said they have activated all the sub-committees that are now doing work to ensure that the population is safe.
However, he said the health teams are constrained by the limited resources to carry out their respective responsibilities.
“Our surveillance teams are doing what it takes to ensure prevention is at its peak. We are also trying our best using our own resources to ensure we sensitise our communities at all levels,” he said.
He said they have held several meetings with the district health teams to discuss how they would respond to the Ebola outbreak in the area.
He however noted that they are struggling until they receive funding from the ministry of health.
According to Dr.Pious Igiri who works with FRRH, currently, they don’t have enough resources in case Ebola strikes.
He said the hospital has limited space for confirmed and probable Ebola cases saying they have only six beds in their isolation centre.
“FRRH handles specialised cases and is always full so the little space we have for isolated cases can accommodate only six patients,” he said.
He appealed to the joint taskforce of Kabarole district and Fort Portal city officials to get some space where they can erect tents for proper management of Ebola cases should they arise,” he said.
The Acting Kabarole district health officer, Annah Tukahirwa said they are carrying Ebola screening at the gates of all health facilities in the district as one way of preventing the spread of the infection.
She said they are also sensitising health workers on prevention measures and that training on how to handle Ebola cases is yet to begin.
On September 19, Uganda confirmed Ebola outbreak in the country with the first case in Mubende.
The case was a new strain of Ebola Sudan which was first reported in Luweero in 2012.
The current cumulative Ebola cases as of yesterday are 24 with 5 confirmed deaths, according to President Yoweri Museveni who was quoting figures from the Ministry of Health and has issued guidelines on tackling the disease.
All these cases were reported from the three districts of Mubende, Mubende Municipality, Kasambya, Kassanda. The Ministry of Health has mapped Kyegegwa and Wakiso as high risk districts for Ebola virus.
https://thecooperator.news/ebola-outbreak-kyotera-schools-enforce-sops/
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