The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Minister of Health for General Duties Dr. Joyce Moriko Kaducu has said she is not happy with the way nurses are carrying out the COVID-19 vaccination.
According to the minister, nurses are showing naivety in carrying out vaccination. According to Dr. Kaducu, many nurses carrying out the COVID-19 vaccination are handling the vaccines poorly which is exposing their lack of skill.
She says instead of healthcare workers handling the vaccine vial at the head or cover, they are touching it from anywhere which can affect the efficacy of the vaccine. She says they are not supposed to touch the body of the vial.
According to Kaducu, for a country that has carried out vaccination for over 50 years against several diseases, this lack of skill is worrying. In addition to handling the vaccine vials poorly, Kaducu says the nurses have shown a lack of technique.
The normal body temperature is 36 degrees celsius. However, some studies show that the temperature of the human hand alone is 17 degrees celsius.
This is not the first time that the skill of Ugandan health workers especially nurses has come into question. A 2014 study on the experience of Ugandan nurses in the practice of universal precautions published in the National Library of Medicine found that nurses do not wear gloves when dealing with patients unless they know they are HIV positive.
Regina Namata Kamoga, the executive director of the Community Health and Information Network, an organisation that advocates for patient rights, says Ugandan nurses are not trained on injection safety and as such do not know what to do.
The president of the Nurses and Midwives Union, Justus Cherop Kiplangat says the issue is not a lack of skill but a need for training. He says nurses are trained on how to inject and handle vaccines but they needed special training on how to handle COVID-19 vaccines and how to administer them.
*****
URN
