The coronavirus lockdown is killing more people than the virus itself, health workers in Masaka have warned. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, President Yoweri Museveni last month put in place measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Among the measures was a ban on public transport and enforcement of a curfew that starts at 7 pm until 6.30 am. Uganda currently has 79 confirmed coronavirus cases with 46 recoveries and no deaths yet.
Now, health workers say they have not only witnessed a significant drop in the number of patients especially those seeking critical services such as maternity and paediatric services, but there is a spike in maternal deaths as pregnant mothers struggle to get transport to hospitals.
Dr Alfred Lumala, the medical director of St Joseph's hospital Kitovu is concerned that the patient turnup has drastically reduced by more than half from the daily average of 700 people.
He explains that the lockdown is taking a heavy toll on the general health system delivery in the area. He says that many patients on life-support treatment have also been lost for follow-up, which could complicate their conditions. Lumala is worried that many deaths are going unreported in the community since many people are failing to access treatment.
"The lockdown is actually causing more deaths. The lockdown was supposed to reduce deaths but the deaths are increasing. It is just that they are in the villages. So if they want to the lockdown to have an impact, then they have to be efficient where the ambulances are enough, fueled and there is a free toll line. But if there is no ambulance, and a service that is free with a free toll line, there is no point of lockdown because it is causing death…They have already told you they brought two mothers just to remove the foetus for burial and that has not been happening. It is the first time I'm seeing it," Lumala said.
Catherine Nakagiri Kisseka, the assistant principal nursing officer at Kitovu hospital says that the limited ambulances cannot attend to all the demands in the current lockdown, which leaves many patients unattended to.
"It is very hard for us to reach them because right now transport is complicated. We can only get to the patients using an ambulance but that is if they call us…By the time we come out of this, we shall see that maternal deaths will be very high," she said.
She added that even health workers; especially those at the lower health centres are finding hard to get to their workplaces due to the ban on public transport. So far, at Masaka regional referral hospital where they previously used to register a daily average of 2,000 patients that include up to 40 deliveries, the numbers have reduced to as low as 10-14 deliveries per day according to the register.
Our reporter visited the children and maternity wards and found just nine patients admitted. Dr Gonzaga Ssenyondo, a consultant gynaecologist at the hospital notes that in cases of emergencies, they advise patients to seek the services from the nearby lower health centres except for serious complications.
“We decided to decongest as per the ministry of Health guidelines. We no longer accept attendants because of the risk of contracting infections from the hospital. We also suspended elective surgery mainly gynaecological,” he noted.
Beatrice Molly Nambejja, the in-charge of Kasana health centre III in Nyendo-Ssenyange division of Masaka municipality indicates that the lower health units are also missing out on enough manpower and medical supplies to handle the increasing number of patients.
Nambejja said she is the only health worker at the facility and she has to handle all cases from family planning, antenatal, infections etc.