By Solomon Hamala
IGANGA
Patients have fled Iganga Main hospital after information leaked that 3 doctors at the facility tested positive for Covid 19.
The rumor that 3 doctors were Covid 19 positive was followed by closure of maternity ward with the facility referring expectant mothers to other health centers.
The rumor that spread like wild fire started making rounds on Sunday prompting hundreds of patients to flee hospital by Monday (yesterday).
It’s said some of the infected doctors were manning the maternity ward. This has forced many expectant mothers to flood Iganga Municipal council Health Center.
However, when speaking to this reporter, the District Health Officer, Dr. David Muwanguzi, rubbished the rumors saying it was only one nurse who tested positive for Covid-19.
“It’s not 3 like people are spreading it. It’s only one nurse who was working in the maternity ward that tested positive, and we didn’t close the ward. We only evacuated the patients to the casualty ward to have their ward fumigated,” he said adding that the patients were brought back to the ward after 12 hours on fumigation.
It should be noted that Iganga district has only 2 reported COVID-19 deaths from those tested, and 97 active positive cases.
These include politicians vying for parliamentary seats, Patrick Kayemba, Kigulu South and Ngobi Juma, Iganga Municipality.
Muwanguzi also noted that the actual number of Covid-19 positive patients and doctors at the facility is not known since not all have been tested.
“For now we can’t tell how many positive doctors and patients we have in there. Not everyone is tested. We only test those with signs and symptoms,” he said adding this is due to the limited resources that can’t allow mass testing.
The DHO also rubbished claims by Patrick Kayemba who is also the district chairperson Iganga that the health sector in the district is being used by politicians to fight political wars.
This followed Kayemba alleging he was COVID-19 free but declared positive after his opponents bribed Muwanguzi and his district COVID team to weaken him.
“The tests are not done from here and the results are sent online! His results were positive! There’s no way we can influence the results,” he said.
Mulyalya Yasin who works with the district surveillance team COVID-19 also said that Kayemba’s claims are empty and baseless.
“A follow up was made to trace for any contact infections and one of his family members, his daughter also tested positive,” he said.
