Makerere University has received up to a tune of Shs. 30 Billion to boost studies and research into the COVID-19 virus.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor i/c Finance and Administration, Prof. William Bazeyo, who also manages the Research and Innovations Fund said that the money they have received will embark on a study to guide in the reopening of schools, among other things.
This comes at a time when government has been put under pressure by sections to have educational institutions and schools open. For instance, the Uganda Medical Association has petitioned the Ministries of Health and Education to have medical students back for training predicting a crisis in hospitals if this doesn’t happen soon.
However, while the Makerere University based research and innovations entity is supposed to cater for all health related research, Prof Bazeyo says they have put a halt to everything else in order to give COVID-19 the attention it deserves.
At the time, Prof Bazeyo says they have spent shs 9.6billion to fund the complete researches on COVID-19 among which is the very first conducted by the Makerere University Lung Institute and another done by the College of Natural Sciences that gave predictions of how the country’s pandemic is likely to turn out.
