Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital imaging department is struggling to operate effectively due to a faulty X-ray machine and lack of a CT scan. John Mali, the in-charge of the department says that the X-ray machine broke down about two months ago and they now …
Read More »Health Ministry does not know cost of COVID vaccine – Dr. Atwine
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health has said that it does not know the cost of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine despite ordering for two million doses. According to the ministry of health officials, the government has only budgeted for the vaccination process to cost an estimated 1.4 …
Read More »Doctors paying exorbitant bills to seek Covid-19 treatment in private hospitals
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | More than 10 doctors who have suffered from severe forms of COVID-19 have been forced to seek care from private hospitals. This is due to the lack of ICU beds in government hospitals. According to the Uganda Medical Association-UMA, their colleagues who on average earn …
Read More »Nawangwe faults gov’t on ventilator scarcity
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Makerere University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe has expressed concern about the shortage of ventilators in the country. Ventilators normally helps to deal with acute respiratory failure for COVID-19 patients. According to health experts, at least five percent of the persons that have moderate to severe …
Read More »Musician Eric Opoka agrees to improve Tumbiza song
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Musician Eric Opoka alias Eezzy has agreed to produce an improved version of the “Tumbiza sound” song to encourage observance of the Covid-19 standard operating procedures- SOPs. Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Health asked the Uganda Communications Commission-UCC to ban the song on grounds …
Read More »Experts don’t know Uganda’s status regarding deadly new COVID-19 strain
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The National Covid-19 taskforce is now like an army fighting a war without intelligence services as for sometime now they have not been monitoring, classifying and sequencing which strains of coronavirus are circulating in the country. As such, the experts cannot tell even whether the …
Read More »99% using new HIV drug without knowing what they are taking
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | HIV activists are blaming government for not giving people living with HIV information regarding the new Anti-Retroviral Therapies (ARVs) yet the country has adopted a human rights approach as a key tool in their HIV response as recommended by the World Health Organisation. In a …
Read More »Thousands miss out on mosquito nets in Apac
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Thousands of people have missed out on the recently distributed mosquito nets in Apac district. Apac with an estimated population of 439,000 people received only 116,580 insecticide-treated mosquito nets from the Ministry of Health. This means 322,420 people missed out. The local leaders argue that …
Read More »Apaa residents reject gov’t mosquito nets
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The leadership of Apaa township in Amuru district has rejected the long lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets in the ongoing distribution by the Ministry of Health. The town council chairperson, Maliam Abwola told URN on Wednesday morning that his executive resolved to reject the 384 …
Read More »Calls for sex education renewed as study links more minors to sex
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | 60 percent of young girls and women admitted to having sexual intercourse before attaining 18-years, the age of consent in Uganda. A survey by the Makerere University School of Public health has found that while 3 in 10 girls who are in school acknowledged having …
Read More »