Former Uganda Medical Association President, Dr Ekwaro Obuku has attributed shift of Ugandans from complying with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to being complacent to loss of trust and lack of resources for the health facilities.
Dr. Obuku says people lost trust the moment the Members of Parliament and government officials started sharing COVID-19 money.
“We are as prepared as the money which was eaten. You are saying you have doctors, yet they are not being paid. The bed capacities in hospitals are not enough for COVID-19 and other diseases,” Obuku said.
With the current surge in the number of Coronavirus cases, Obuku says science guides that a lockdown is the solution but Uganda cannot sustain another lockdown.
“I would recommend a lockdown because that is what works. They can’t go there because they have eaten the money. Mass testing is very necessary,” he says.
Obuku believes that the current congestion in hospitals can partly be solved by treating asymptomatic patients from their homes. He says Uganda has shortage of health workers.
Recently President Yoweri Museveni presided over the passing out of over 8,000 security officers and Dr Obuku believes it’s unnecessary because COVID-19 pandemic is a war fought by health workers not military or police officers.
“You close medical schools but leave military schools open that is a contradiction. We need more frontline health workers to handle this growing threat,” he says.