COVID-19: Entebbe Hospital lost 75 in 3 months

Entebbe, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Seventy five patients succumbed to Covid-19 between May 21 and July 11 at Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital, a, average of three deaths every two days.

In the first wave, that is between March 21, 2020 to  end  of April,  1,393 patients  were handled at Entebbe Hospital. Ten lost the battle, an average of one death in four days.

However, from May 11  to July 13, after the second wave hit Uganda, the hospital handled  496 patients. However, 75 of them died.

According to data from the hospital, all the 75 people who died  were Ugandans. They were aged between 21 years and 90 years.

Thirty nine of these victims were male and none of the victims was vaccinated.

Among the symptoms they had were chest pain, difficulty in breathing, general body weakness and diarrhea. However three of the patients died without showing any of these symptoms.

The first death of the second wave at Entebbe Hospital  was a 42 year-old man who died four days after he was admitted at the facility. He only had difficulty in breathing. Meanwhile, a 90-year-old female was the the second victim. She died a week after  admission and had had general body weakness, difficulty in breathing and headache.

The number of deaths rose in the next two weeks to 14, especially after 8 patients died on June 13.

Dr. Christoper Nsereko, a physician at Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital, says that most of the patients who got infected in the second wave got admitted in severe or critical condition.

He says some of the people with underlying conditions such as diabetes and hypertension sought medical attention late. As a result, it was too late to save some of them.

Dr. Nsereko thus urges the target population, that is health workers and those with underlying conditions,  to get vaccinated so as to avoid getting severe forms of COVID-19.

Muhammad Mubiru, the Principal Hospital Administrator at Entebbe Hospital, says some of the patients who died were brought when their oxygen levels were under 30 percent, yet the required level is 90 and above.

To make matters worse, Mubiru says some people were gripped by fear while medics were in panic after 15 colleagues got infected and one nurse died. The medics were also under pressure from the over 110 patients and 20 critical cases in the ward, yet they were only 80. As a result, some medics were spending over 5 hours in the ward, instead of one hour for effective infection control.

A 40-year-old expectant woman says she survived narrowly. She tested positive for COVID-19 on June 16 after attending a traditional marriage ceremony in June 14. She  was admitted at Entebbe Hospital for five days.

At the time, she was 8 months pregnant, had difficulty in breathing and chest pain. “I was put on oxygen for two days because I got scared that I would also to die after two pregnant women in my ward died. My blood pressure rose and could hardly breathe,” she says.   “The doctors thought I would  die.  So they said that if  I  don’t improve on the third day, they would carry out a C-section so that they can save my baby,” the woman says.

Mubiru  is now urging the community to  observe the standard operating procedures, particularly wearing face masks and to stay home, to curb the rate of transmission.

Mubiru says that unlike in the first wave where the hospital deployed a four man team to bury COVID=19 victims, relatives can now bury their own.

He however says the burial team can still be deployed on the request of the family.

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