Ebola kills 3 medics
TABU BUTAGIRA, HUSSEIN BOGERE & JOSEPH MUGISA
- Doctor dies on Lukwiya death anniversary
- Kampala put on high alert
- US, UK warn citizens
- MPs want public gatherings, banned
KAMPALA/BUNDIBUGYO
THE deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever yesterday claimed its first high profile
victims; a doctor and two other medical workers - bringing the death toll to
20, since the disease broke out in the southwestern district of Bundibugyo in
August this year, according to the Ministry of Health.
Senior clinical officer, Joshua Kule and Rose Bulimpikya, the matron of
Bundibugyo hospital died yesterday morning after they contracted the disease
while treating patients at the same medical facility a week ago.
They bring to four the number of medical workers who have died of Ebola since
2000 when the disease first broke out in Uganda. Dr Mathew Lukwiya the medical
superintendent of Lacor Hospital in Gulu died in December 2000.
Jonah Kule, the Bundibugyo hospital doctor, who was admitted at Mulago
hospital on Friday passed away at around 8pm on Tuesday night; the date of the
seventh anniversary of the death of Lukwiya.
"It is true he (Dr Kule) has died," Mulago hospital Executive Director, Edward
Ddumba said yesterday.
An official of Medicines Sans Frontiers said arrangements were being made to
move the body to Bundibugyo for burial.
"They are keeping the body (of late Dr Kule) at the Isolation Unit as they wait
for post mortem examination to establish the clinical cause of his demise," the
official said.
MSF - France is one of the several bodies that have converged in Bundibugyo to
buttress the medical team leading the fight against Ebola. Others include the
World Health Organisation, Afrinet, Unicef and the Uganda Red Cross Society.
The deceased doctor came to the city last week to take his children home for
school holidays but felt unwell and was subsequently admitted at the Mulago
"Isolation Unit" of the national referral where medical colleague had initially
intimated that he was "improving".
In a statement issued last evening, the Director General of Health Services, Dr
Sam Zaramba said the cumulative number of infections had risen to 91 with a
total of 20 deaths.
"Of the cases reported in Bundibugyo District, 13 are currently admitted in
Kikyo Health Centre and 23 in Bundibugyo Hospital," the statement read in part.
But separate tallies of the fatalities, based figures obtained by Daily
Monitor from leaders in Bundibogyo indicate that at least 22 people had died to
date in the yet unfolding Ebola spread.
"The Ministry of Health would like to remind all District Health Officers and
the In-charges of Health Units to be on the alert and immediately report any
suspected cases (to medical facilities," Zaramba said.
Kampala alert
Paul Kaggwa, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health told Daily Monitor in an
interview that a horde of districts in western, south western and mid central
Uganda, including Kampala city, had been put on higher alert as they are deemed
to be highly susceptible to possible Ebola outbreak.
"The whole country is on alert but Kampala and especially these regions
(western, south western and mid central) are on higher alert because they are
closer to the affected areas," Mr Kaggwa said. Mathew Lukwiya, who
died of Ebola while treating patients in Gulu in December 2000.
Mulago hospital Executive Director Edward Ddumba said they had constituted a
10-member Ebola Task Force led by Dr Bonny Bentura Byarugaba and established a
treatment centre to handle any eventualities.
This is after authorities at the hospital, banned the public from accessing the
Isolation Unit following Dr Kule's death who had been quarantined there.
It emerged yesterday that foreign missions in the country had issued notices to
their nationals not to travel to the areas affected by the virulent disease.
"Americans living in or who must travel to Bundibugyo District should be
extremely careful and intensify personal health precautions at this time to
avoid contracting this illness. Americans should also avoid contact with
individuals who may have been in contact with the illness," the December 3
advisory from the US embassy in Kampala said.
John Hamilton of the Press and Public Affairs office at the UK High Commission
in Kampala told Daily Monitor yesterday that they had also given out similar
travel advisory to British citizens in the country.
Residents said Dr Kule was the first qualified medical doctor from Bundibugyo.
He returned to serve his home area immediately after training.
Dr Zaramba, yesterday flew to Bundibugyo where he re-assured the health
workers at the centres of their work safety and agreed with local leaders on a
broad range of approaches to contain further spread of the epidemic.
Additional reporting by AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA
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