The Kampala International University (KIU) Teaching Hospital has reopened its Ebola Emergency Centre and recalled its emergency response team to put in place safeguards against a potential Coronavirus outbreak in the country.
This comes at the wake of the Conora pandemic that has threated the world with Uganda already confirming eight more cases yesterday. KIU teaching hospital is in the right track of placing all necessary staff to handle and combart the Conrona virus pandemic once it’s evident in the community around the university.
KIU Teaching Hospital which already had in place an emergency centre and response team during the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo in 2019 is ready to handle another such case, the same response units are reopening to deal with Coronavirus which is now in Uganda.
The University has also placed other measures such as hand washing equipment at the hospital entrances and hand sanitizers at every department, clinic and unit in the hospital, COVID – 19 awareness corners at the entrances of the General Out-patient Departments (GOPD) and Accident & Emergency (A&E) Center, Continuous Medical Education (CME) for staff on case identification and prevention, signs and symptoms, how to treat patients and use of personal protective equipment as well as Standard Operating Procedures for hand washing.
“An intensive awareness drive is also underway, with the hospital placing placards around the hospital with information regarding Coronavirus and radio talk shows to sensitise the people about the global pandemic. We are getting ready to handle any cases of Conora virus and acquire all materials to treat it,” says Dr Sam Kyalema, the head of A&E who has also been named as the hospital focal person on all matters concerning Coronavirus.
The acting Principal Nursing Officer for the hospital, Muhammad Musa welcomed the idea saying they also have measures to ensure that high-risk persons coming into the hospital do not infect others.
“Management has put in place measures to reduce crowding of patients when they come in, to reduce the rate of spread of the disease,” Musa says.
KIU has also put in place contact numbers for people to call and these are: Dr Sam Kyalema: 0702 831469 , Principal Nursing Office: 0706 479971/0778 431854 or Bushenyi District Contact Numbers: 0701 678342/0701 921595
One can also reach out to the Ministry of Health directly on Toll-Free Numbers: 0800203033/0800100066
In recent years, KIU teaching hospital had been at the fire front of fighting such diseases that destabilizes communities.
