COVID-19 victims body was not exhumed by dogs -RDC

Namisindwa, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Namisindwa Resident District Commissioner Kigai Mweso Wamoto has dismissed as baseless, claims that the body of the COVID-19 victim buried in the area was exhumed and eaten by dogs.     

Eunice Chimatala, who succumbed to COVID-19 at Joy Hospice centre in Mbale City last week was buried hurriedly on Thursday under tight security in Sisongofwa village in Namabya sub-county.   But on Tuesday, Namisindwa Woman MP Grace Watuwa told parliament that the body of late Chimatala was badly buried and that the entire area was stinking. 

Watuwa said that as a result, the grave had been ransacked by dogs sniffing out some of the deceased’s body parts.  Similarly, Richard Ssituma, the Gombolola Internal Security Officer-GISO of Namabya sub-county told Uganda Radio Network that residents had started abandoning the village due to the stench that was coming out of the grave.    

But the RDC dismissed the claims, although he hastens to add that the grave had developed a crack as a result of bad soils coupled with heavy rains. He said that the health teams from Mbale Regional Hospital have since rectified the problem.

Meanwhile, the search for the Contacts of the late Chimatala is still on including the bodaboda rider who took her to the health clinic where she died from. Kigai says that the COVID-19  task force has alerted the public about the danger he poses to the community and intensified the search for him.

Over 90 people have since been quarantined at Magale Secondary School in Namisindwa district and the search for more contacts is still on.

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