Covid-19: Truck drivers decry mistreatment, stigmatisation at Gulu hospital

Stakeholders in the cargo truck industry have raised concern over stigmatisation and hostile working environment due to the Covid-19 pandemic at Gulu referral hospital.

Byron Kinene, the chairperson of the Regional Lorry Drivers and Transporters Association, said reports from the truck drivers in Gulu indicate that they are being mistreated at the hospital.

He said as more truck drivers test positive, the regional trucking industry is being seen as an obstacle in the fight against the virus which is not true.

He said the drivers who tested positive from the Elegu border point and were taken to Gulu regional hospital for treatment are being neglected.

"The report we have got from Gulu hospital is that these trucks drivers are not getting good services, even some of them had had one meal a day and by the time we talked to them. They had not got anything to eat,"he said.

Kinene also defended the truck drivers who went on strike at the Malaba border noting that the ministry of Health had failed to produce the test results within the communicated time.

He said the delay to release the results within 45 minutes increases the risk of these drivers contracting the virus because of the congestion at the border.

"Whenever there is congestion [at the border] we see the number rising. Who is responsible for eliminating this congestion?"he queried.

Kinene said that the services at the borders have been compromised given the increasing number of drivers as they wait for their results.