Kabale residents want Covid-19 home based care suspended

Residents want all asymptomatic Covid-19 patients under home based care sent to isolation centers for easy management

Kabale, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Residents of Kabale district want the home based care management for Covid-19 patients suspended. In late May, Kabale district Covid-19 taskforce rolled out the home-based care management for Covid-19 patients in their homes after running out of space at Kabale Regional Referral Hospital.

The move was also in line with the Health Ministry’s directive that asymptomatic Covid-19 patients and those with minor symptoms self-isolate and receive treatment in the confines of their homes. Apparently, Kabale district has 206 Covid-19 patients. Fifty-five of these are receiving treatment at Kabale Regional Referral Hospital while 151 are under home-based care.

However, residents want the home-based care management for COVID-19 patients dissolved, saying it is very risky for the remaining community members. Bannet Mutekanga, a resident of Kishanje village in Butanda parish in Butanda sub-county, says that most COVID-19 patients placed under home-based care sneak out to bars and shops, which exposes other community members to infection.

He also says that in some instances, people run away from the COVID-19 patients which fuels stigma. Brian Tushabe, a resident of Kibumba sub-county says that what angers him most is seeing health workers sending COVID-19 patients to self-isolate in their homes without notifying local authorities to be extra careful. Tushabe says that by the time locals discover that there is a patient in a village, they have got in contact with him or accessed a home where he stays.

William Ndamwesiga and Bruno Mwesigwa from Kyanamira sub-county and Northern division respectively want the government to set up an isolation centre at Golf Course Makanga in Makanga hill Central division for all COVID-19 patients other than sending them home where they could potentially infect other people. They say that it is becoming very difficult for COVID-19 patients to exercise self-control and confine themselves as directed by health workers.

Paddy Mwesigye, the Kabale district assistant health officer in charge of Child and Maternal health, who also doubles as the secretary to the district Covid-19 taskforce, says that suspending home-based care to establish more isolation centers is impossible. He says that there is no manpower to run new isolation centers given the high patient numbers.

Last month, Kabale district Covid-19 taskforce officials admitted that some patients were sneaking out of their homes to bars to drink alcohol.

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