Reports coming in suggests that there is huge fear of mass infections of COVID-19 at Kikoni based Douglas Villa hostel in Makerere if the Ministry of Health doesn’t addresses congestion and mixing up of the quarantined people at the isolation centre.
Apparently, the situation at the hostel is so worrying because people under quarantine in there are freely mixing up, without proper sanitation. Douglas Villa, a renown students’ hostel at the Ivory Tower was turned into a COVID-19 isolation centre after education institutions were closed by President Museveni due to the coronavirus pandemic.
After the first case was recorded in Uganda, government made a clarion call to all citizens that had travelled to Dubai in the recebt past and asked them to undergo mandatory quarantine.
One of such Ugandans, Mr Lennon Mugisa who had travelled to Dubai on March 18 and came back four days later reported to the new Mulago Hospital where they had asked the travelers to go but he says that he was surprised they instructed to put him under quarantine without taking samples from him as the ministry had announced.
“After four hours of waiting up to about 8pm, a man from the Ministry of Health came and told us that we were going to be quarantined and we were put in a van and driven to Douglas Villa,” Mr Mugisa said.
Speaking to the media now, Mugisa says he fears for his life because the place is not safe and what he may have missed contracting from Dubai, he may contract from Douglas Villa.
“The rooms we are sleeping in are for students, together with their property. We are sharing washrooms, the corridors are small so we mix with each other,” Mugisha said.
Another Ugandan who preferred anonymity, said they are forced to share sanitary facilities which expose those who are not sick to the risk of contracting the virus.
“Each one of us has been assigned a room but we are sharing one toilet on our floor. The toilets are not even cleaned regularly and there is no toilet paper. People are not observing the rules at all. I always see them moving in corridors sneezing and coughing and social distancing is not observed at all. I am worried,” he said.
This particular gentleman also observed that since they were taken there, they have never been tested and wondered why the ministry officials keep them in such a state.
“Only those that are showing signs like coughing and have flu are given attention. I thought all of us should be tested because the pressure is too much. We do not know if we shall leave here alive because you cannot differentiate between the one who has and the one who does not,” he said.
Speaking to the press, Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu, the State Minister for Primary healthcare, acknowledged the crisis and said the issue has already been raised to the ministry. She says steps will be taken to address the concerns.
“Of course the issue of food can be regulated meaning the social distance can be addressed but then the concern of sharing facilities such as toilets and bathrooms, the Permanent Secretary said she was going to address it,” Dr Kaducu said.
“The spirit of quarantine is that you be on your own. You use your own facilities, you don’t need to mix up. We have to put preventive measures so that they don’t get infected from the quarantine centres,” she added.
