By Keefa Nuwahereza
In their efforts to combat the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Uganda from truck drivers bringing merchandise into the country, the Ministry of Health has decided to deploy more health workers at all border points, especially Mutukula, which brings in lots of trucks from Tanzania.
This website has established that the Ministry of Health is set to deploy at least 20 Health workers to beef up the team currently screening transit cargo trucks drivers entering the country at Mutukula border post in Kyotera District.
Dr Edward Muwanga ,the Kyotera District Health officer, said the Ministry aims at reducing the pressure exerted on the existing medics who are overwhelmed by the big number of truck drivers being screened for COVID-19 pandemic at the border point.
Dr Muwanga said that; “Only 10 Health workers have been working at the border and they have been overwhelmed by the huge numbers of people they are supposed to attend to daily. So we are going to recruit more Health workers on temporarily basis to beef up the team.”
He added that the Health workers will include, lab technicians, nurses, clinical officers, records assistants and counsellors.
He noted that; “Before deploying them(medics)we will ensure that they get training on how to handle COVID-19 suspected cases while at the border.”
They are expected to start work next week, according to Dr Muwanga.
Meanwhile, this comes at a time when the Ministry of Health has recorded 4 new cases of COVID-19 infections in Uganda, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 79, up from 75 on Saturday.
The Ministry of Health tweeted on Sunday night thus;
“Four (4) new COVID19 cases confirmed today out of the 1,578 samples tested among truck drivers.
All new confirmed cases are Tanzanian truck drivers who arrived via Mutukula border 411 samples from communities tested negative for COVID-19COVID-19 Confirmed Cases: 79