In order to assist the government in the fight against COVID-19 and also to prepare for other infectious disease outbreaks in the future, Gulu University through its Faculty of Medicine has joined other institutions to curb down the spread of coronavirus in Uganda.
The faculty of medicine has a state-of-the art Biosciences Research Laboratories with 18 workrooms including seven specialized laboratories designed for detection and containment of infectious diseases COVID-19 inclusive.
The institution is now seeking Ug Shs 2.5 billion from the central government to start diagnosing, epidemiological surveillance and monitoring of Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.
According to Dr. Felix Kaducu Ocaka, the Dean Faculty of Medicine, the facility will supplement on the existing Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Entebbe. This will lessen on the burden of taking samples from different parts of the country to Entebbe. The University has six units of Chain Reactions – PCR machines and two Real Time – PCR machines to run over 7,000 COVID19 samples a day.
While speaking to journalists James Onono Ojok, Gulu University Public Relations Officer, said that the science laboratories can assist the Ministry of Health and other development partners to deliver reliable test results based on standardized laboratory test protocols since they can perform different functions at ago.
