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Kitgum, Uganda| AFP | THE INDEPENDENT | Kitgum District has run out of coronavirus sample collection kits.
This comes just a few days after the District health officials collected swab samples from over 50 contacts of a 34-year-old resident of Pandwong division who tested positive for COVID-19.
William Komakech, the Kitgum Resident District Commissioner also the district COVID-19 task-force chairperson says 21 sample collection kits that were delivered from Gulu Regional Referral Hospital over the weekend are used up.
The district had by last week run out of the collection kits but received emergency supplies from Gulu to extract swab samples from high risks contacts of the positive patient.
Komakech says lack of the kits greatly affects services of the surveillance team that are on the ground tracing contacts the positive patient that need immediate testing to ascertain their health status.
“As I speak now, the COVID-19 sample collecting kits we got from Gulu Regional Referral Hospital is finished; we don’t have any left in store,” Komakech told URN in an interview.
He says several contacts that are still being traced by health officials may not be tested timely as they lack sample collection kits to extract swab samples.
According to Komakech, health team has already written to the Health Ministry requesting for 60 sample collecting kits to enable the task-force team to effectively collect samples from all contacts and suspects they are tracing.
Kitgum District Surveillance Focal Person Simon Okongo says irregular and limited supplies of COVID-19 sample collection kits are frustrating the work of health officials.
He explains that the surveillance team were forced to wait for delivery of kits from Gulu Regional Referral hospital over the weekend after they run out of them.
The district health officials were on Tuesday forced to borrow eight sample collection kits from neighbouring Lamwo district to conduct extraction of swab samples from two more contacts.
Emmanuel Ainebyona, the Ministry of Health Senior Public Relations Officer says the district has to write to National Medical Store and Head of Laboratory Services at the Health Ministry for more supplies.
He says the Health Ministry has enough sample collection kits to be supplied to the various health facilities in the country but notes that health officials have to follow the right procedures for requisition.
Over 50 people, majority contacts of a 34-year-old resident of Pandwong division are being quarantined in Kitgum General Hospital, St Joseph’s Hospital and Pandwong Health Center III.
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