Dr. Patrick Buchan Ocen, the Lira District Health Officer-DHO, who said the first consignment of about 3,000 doses was delivered in October 2022, explains that Lira has not been participating in the mass yellow fever vaccination campaign because it was never among the endemic districts in the country.
The consignment included two perks, both constituting 4160. One perk included 2160 doses of the rSSV-Merc-IAVI from the United Kingdom while the other included 2000 doses of the ChadOx1 produced by Oxford University in conjunction with Jenner Institute in collaboration with the Serum Institute of India.
Malaria is responsible for over 30 per cent of the total outpatient visits and 20 per cent of all hospital admissions. The country also recorded a total of 20 million cases and a death toll of 30,900 people in 2020 alone, including over 70,000 children under the age of five
Stephen Obbo, the Director Lira Regional Referral Hospital explained that they are operating as a High Dependent Unit (HDU) instead of the ICU due to lack of specialized staff.
Judith Namirimu Polah, a Senior Principal Nursing Officer supervising the treatment centre explained that the facility is filled up due to the surge in the number of cases. She explains that the extra treatment centre will be located in two tents within a designated area at the hospital.
Geoffrey Ariko, the Lira District Bio-stat Officer, explains that malaria cases kept increasing throughout the year up to 33.7%. He, however, says that they recorded a sharp decline in Malaria cases between December 2020 and March 2021 following the implementation of IRS program in May 2020.
Dr Edmond Acheka, the Assistant DHO in-charge of maternal and child health says that the tents can accommodate 60 beds. He adds that they are going to boost their capacity to admit more patients especially from within the local community.
The Ministry of Health had earlier on requested for two acres of land for the establishment of a laboratory that would be upgraded to a Health Centre III to serve the population in Elegu and
the surrounding areas.
