Uganda is running out of Personal Protective Equipment-PPE at hospitals according to the Ministry of health.
The Ministry’s PPE stock supplies status for the last week of April 2020 shows that the country’s PPE stocks are critically low and what is available cannot be enough for the country’s COVID-19 response plan for the next three months.
Sources from the Health Ministry attributed the lack of PPE to global shortages increased by global demand and ensuing constrained supply of critical logistics for COVID-19. There is growing demand world over for gloves, surgical masks, surgical N96 respirators, face shields, protective gear and test kit.
“The available stock of PPE and testing commodities at hand in Uganda is critically low and cannot last more than three months. What we have now can only last one month at the most,”
As a result of the shortage, medical teams across the country have threatened to strike if they are not given PPE. Doctors from the Eastern branch of Uganda Medical Association located in Jinja said their strike will start tomorrow, Thursday according to Dr Mukuzi Muhereza, the secretary-general of Uganda Medical Association.
This comes at a time where coronavirus cases are on a rise. On Wednesday, May 13th, the Ministry Of Health confirmed 13 new Covid-19 positive cases in the country out of 1,741 samples from truck drivers.
According to the ministry, new cases are Seven Ugandan truck drivers, Five Kenyans and One Eritrean who arrived from Tanzania, South Sudan and Kenya via Mutukula, Elegu and Malaba
This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases to 139 in Uganda.
All 363 community samples have tested negative for COVID-19.
Total samples tested today are 2104
The total number of recovered cases in the country stands at 56. No single death has been registered in Uganda.
