Health Centers in Kampala have reintroduced Standard Operating Procedures-SOPs used at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent the spread of the Ebola Sudan virus diseases.
Health Centers managed under Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA are now asking people seeking to access the facilities to wear their masks and wash hands.
According to Dr. Alex Ndyabakira the City Incident Commander, they instructed all health facilities to be on the alert and activate SOPs to prevent against the spread of the Ebola virus disease.
At Kiswa Health Center III in Bugoloobi, patients are asked to wear their masks and constantly reminded by health workers to keep them on. The Health workers are seen wearing masks and using gloves when examining all patients.
The officer in charge at Kiswa Health Center, Senior Nursing Officer Irene Nabukwasi says the staff are under instruction to incorporate Ebola in their health communication to the over 800 patients they receive at the facility daily.
Nabukwasi also says that they are holding continuous medical education sessions for their health workers to ensure that they are ready to deal appropriately with patients who might be victims of Ebola.
Kiswa is not a designated treatment facility but attends to hundreds of patients from different communities of Bugoloobi, Nakawa, Kitintale and others who might have contracted Ebola.
The officer says that they have handled two suspects so far, one from last week and the other from the preceding week.
Nabukwasi says both suspects were tested for Ebola and the result for one of them came out as negative hence free of the Ebola Virus disease. Results from the second test are yet to be released.
At the Kawaala Health Center there are also efforts to sensitize patients and also guard against Ebola virus spread. Although Ebola virus disease is not airborne like COVID 19, it is transmitted through exposure to bodily fluids like sweat, blood or saliva of an infected person. Experts say that when for instance an infected persons coughs and their saliva lands on another person’s skin, they too can contract Ebola.
Now as a preventive measure, at Kawaala Health Center, there are displayed messages about Ebola transmission and prevention printed on a banner erected at the gate and on flip charts at the reception and in corridors. Security guards at the gate also ask people to wear masks before accessing the facility, although after entry. However, there is no enforcement for people to keep their masks on and also to wash their hands after entering.