The Ministry of Health is hunting for two cholera patients who escaped from the isolation centre at Naguru Hospital on Tuesday, 8th January 2019. On Monday, the ministry confirmed that two of the eight patients admitted to the hospital from Kabowa village in Lubaga division, Kampala, had tested positive of the deadly disease. But on […]
The Ministry of Health is hunting for two cholera patients who escaped from the isolation centre at Naguru Hospital on Tuesday, 8th January 2019.
On Monday, the ministry confirmed that two of the eight patients admitted to the hospital from Kabowa village in Lubaga division, Kampala, had tested positive of the deadly disease.
But on Tuesday, the duo is said to have escaped from the hospital under unclear circumstances.
According to Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Ministry of Health senior public relations officer, the patients are at risk of death as well as infecting others.
“The executive director (Naguru Hospital) told me the patients ran away from the hospital, and they (the hospital) they are looking for them. These patients should not complain in case of anything,” Mr Ainebyoona said.
Residents of the area said the patients decided to leave the hospital after the management asked them to buy medicine yet they could not afford.
However, Mr Ainebyoona denied the claims of the hospital charging patient’s fees.
“All medication is available at the hospital and actually some of the patients are being handled by the director of the hospital himself. Those are just rumours,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kampala lord mayor Erias Lukwago has lashed out at ministry of health officials over what he calls delayed response to healthy emergencies.
Addressing journalists at city hall, Lukwago noted that the recent suspected cholera outbreak in kabowa, a kampala sub-burb is not the first claiming that the disease was detected in some patients at Lubaga hospital during the Christmas season last year that even passed away, but no alarm was sounded.
