A section of health workers at Masindi General Hospital on Tuesday morning vowed not to attend to any patients for lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs).
The nurses reasoned that they could in the course of attending to patients end up contracting Covid-19 after a detective at Masindi police station tested positive for the virus on Friday.
The health workers who were mainly nurses also demanded that the Covid-19 suspects housed in the male ward at the hospital should also be shifted to another place since their movement within the health facility is allegedly uncontrolled.
One nurse who preferred to remain anonymous to freely talk to our reporter said that the higher relevant authorities in the fight against the virus in the district are reluctant to control the Covid-19 suspects’ movements.
“The concerned authorities have failed to manage the male ward-turned isolation ward,” the nurse said.
The nurses also demanded to be paid their risk allowances adding that they do not even have transport means from their homes to the duty station.
Their action paralysed work at the hospital prompting the District Health Officer (DHO) and the District Police Commander to convene a crisis meeting over the matter.
After the meeting, the DHO, Mr Patrick Baguma, told the press that it was resolved that some of the Covid-19 suspects are to be transferred to other designated isolation centres.
He pledged that face masks would be delivered anytime.
By the time of filing this story, the health workers had yet started working.
Masindi district has one confirmed case of Coronavirus. The 29-year-old detective at Masindi police station is currently being treated at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital.
