Three Masaka hospital staff test positive for Covid-19

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Masaka regional referral hospital has admitted three health workers who tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Dr. Nathan Onyach, the hospital director has confirmed their admission saying they were working at the ordinary outpatient department where they got infected. He noted that some health workers at the ordinary wards do not care about protecting themselves thinking they are safer than those working in the highly sensitive units.

Onyach says that a team of 32 staff at the Accident and Emergency department, that attended to a 56-year-old male police officer who succumbed to Covid-19 two weeks ago tested negative while the three staff at the outpatient tested positive for the disease. He explains that their staff at the accident and emergency unit are very cautious due to the high risk at the department unlike those at the outpatient department.

Much as the hospital emphasizes that people wear masks to access the facility, Onyach argues that the majority do not wear them correctly while the rest remove them when they enter the facility. He explains that the failure to wear masks has become another challenge which may increase the infections at the hospital.

On September 11, 2020, the hospital registered the first COVID-19 death in the region. The officer attached to Kyawagonya police post in Lwengo district arrived at the hospital emergency unit on September 8, 2020 with difficulty in breathing and was also diabetic. He was admitted for treatment but unfortunately passed-on three days after.

Dr. Mark Jjuuko, officer in-charge of the COVID-19 treatment centre confirmed that his samples later were confirmed positive for the covid-19. He says their COVID surveillance team traced 52 contacts of the deceased policeman. They include 32 health workers who tested negative while 20 included the deceased’s caretakers, friends and workmates who were quarantined.

In the meantime, the COVID surveillance team is still investigating how the three staff acquired the disease. Currently, the Masaka COVID treatment centre has 16 patients that are undergoing treatment.

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