WAKISO district LC5 chairman Matia Lwanga Bwanika has appealed to president Museveni to involve the Chief Administrative Officers-CAOs and the LC5 chairpersons in the fight against COVID-19.
Bwanika’s appeal followed a threat by the health workers in Wakiso district to put down the tools due to lack of protective gear and facilitation. Bwanika made the remarks on recently while addressing the media about the matter at the district head quarters.
According to Bwanika, the fight against COVID-19 has taken two trends including the security and that of health. He pointed out that the Resident District Commissioners-RDCs would have been given the role of managing the security concerns other than the general concerns which some of them have failed to perform.
According to Bwanika the Chief Administrative Officers are technical people who deal with people in their day today duties and politicians are voted by the people.
Bwanika attributed the lack of protective gear for health workers and facilitation to much work given to the area RDC Rose Kirabira.
He added that currently health workers in the district are working under difficult conditions saying they have not got stickers from the ministry.
As a result Bwanika said, some health workers have been beaten up by the security operatives who are trying to enforce the president’s directives in the fight against COVID-19.
A case in point according to Bwanika, one of the health workers only identified as Rashida working at Nabweru Health Center IV as lab personnel was recently beaten up and that she was admitted at the facility.
Bwanika further revealed that many people who want clearance from the RDC do suffer a lot at the district head quarters since Kirabira is not in her office to attend to them.
As Bwanika was addressing the media on Saturday, there came a pregnant woman identified as Shamim Nakanywagi who wanted to go and deliver from Mityana district and she wanted clearance.
Nakanywagi said she went to Wakiso police head quarters after finding the office of the RDC closed and later sent to the District Security Office-DSO which also was closed.
When the District Health Officer-DHO Dr.Mathias Lugoloobi was contacted over the matter, he denied any knowledge about the intentions of the health workers to put down their tools.
Lugoloobi however, agreed working under challenging situation due to lack of many things like protective gears, facilitation, stickers and fuel yet they were promised.
“We were promised fuel and facilitation but we have not got any of them but we are just working in difficult conditions and with stickers I decided to make ours locally so that we could move around,” said Lugoloobi.
Regardless of all the difficulties, Dr. Lugoloobi advised all health workers in the district to continue working saying it’s their job to save people’s lives.
Dr.Isa Lukwago on the one of the response teams in the district said they are overwhelmed by phone calls from communities to go and pick the suspected COVID-19 people.
Dr. Lukwago emphasized that they are working but they have not got any facilitation and the protective gears provided to them were not enough for all health workers at Wakiso health center IV.