The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Mbale, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The samples of a 16-year-old boy who was isolated at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital after presenting with Ebola-like symptoms have turned out negative, the Director, Dr. Stephen Obbo has revealed.
“The results of the suspected case are negative and the patient is now receiving normal treatment, not for Ebola,” Obbo said Friday. The patient had presented with hemorrhaging from his body outlets and a high fever.
According to Dr. Obbo, Mbale Regional Referral Hospital is ready to respond to any Ebola outbreak and has urged the community to follow the ministry of Health guidelines to avoid possible infection. According to the Ministry of Health, Uganda has cumulatively registered 136 confirmed cases, 62 recoveries, and 53 deaths.
The primary symptoms of Ebola include fever, aches, and pains, such as severe headaches and muscle and joint pain, weakness and fatigue, sore throat, loss of appetite, gastrointestinal symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting, unexplained hemorrhaging, bleeding, or bruising.
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The government through the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education and Sports will transport learners from and to Kasanda and Mubende districts for their holidays when the term closes. The two districts are in lockdown announced by the government to contain the spread of the Ebola virus.
The Health Minister, Jane Ruth Aceng, says that this is aimed at avoiding huge numbers of learners in schools, which can facilitate the transmission of Ebola in case one learner is sick. She also said that the early closure of schools makes surveillance easier given the small number of learners.
She explained that learners that completed their Primary Leaving Examinations and Uganda Certificate of Education Exams (UCE) from Kasanda and Mubende districts will converge at Nkoba primary school in Kasanda town and Kasenyi secondary school in Mubende municipality on November 14, 2022, where buses will pick them and transport them to Mityana town school in Mityana municipality, Buhinga stadium in Fortpotal City and Booma grounds in Hoima where their parents are to pick them.
She says that the learners from other parts of the country hailing from Mubende and Kasanda districts will converge at Kololo airstrip where they will be transported to their homes. Learners from non-candidate classes will be leaving on November 25, 2022, following the same arrangements. Senior six candidates who have not yet started their exams and learners from technical institutes and polytechnics learners will be leaving on December 9th following the arrangement given by the ministry.
She advised the parents to liaise with Residence District commissioners to pick up their children from the designated points. According to Aceng, schools are required to record every learn for easy follow-up by the ministry.
Joy Kaduchu, the State Minister of Education, said that government will not provide feeding to learners who are currently at school waiting to be transported back home. At least 1,210 candidates completed their PLE and UCE in Mubende and Kasanda districts and 3558 non-candidates. Close to 1000 learners are expected to return to Kasanda and Mubende from different districts.
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URN
Well so far so good, it is not Ebola
However there is a cause and hopefully it is not one of the other Viral Heamorrhagic fevers (VHF)
There was one case of VHF admitted in Soroti hospital in the recent past; certain precautions have to be taken
The government is doing it’s job in fighting ebola.
Just to get into the real world, there are other causes of haemorrhagic fevers in this country
In the past when it was not Ebola, others were detected
The transmission routes may be different and thus the response. There may be different control measures in the host community
The very reason that the Soroti case was reported
Sorry we are yet to fit in the “new order”
Where knowledge is more of a privilege of class
“Its job” now what is the scope of government jobs?
No body has challenged its performance on this job of controlling Ebola
That does not mean its the only job;
Incidentally even the other one is its job
But since we are a country of “happy people” let us dance while the music still goes on
It is not easy to abandon what has been acquired over 44 years, something called “unlearning” , possibly after imbibing several brands of local gin, 24 hours every day for six years , there will be change in what we know