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.
Dr. Stephen Obbo, the Director Lira Regional Referral Hospital advised the community to embrace the mass vaccination exercise taking place now saying the majority of people being admitted in the treatment unit are those who are not vaccinated.
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 Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health, admitted that health workers in some treatment units had not been paid due to lack of funds.
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.
