Dr Obuku: More Ugandans to die from chronic illnesses while we pay attention to Covid-19 (VIDEO)

Former president of the Uganda Medical Association (UMA) Dr. Ekwaro Obuku has warned that the solutions put in place to combat the spread of COVID19 might have worse impact than anticipated.

Dr Obuku warned against a total lockdown of the country without mechanisms to combat other chronic illnesses many Ugandans suffer from in addition to care for pregnant mothers.

President Museveni on Tuesday lunchtime extended the lockdown and all previously announced measures for 21 more days until May 5, 2020. According to the President, the decision was to allow government to study the situation longer.

Speaking to NBS Television however, Dr Obuku said that the decision to extend the lockdown deserved be accorded science, political and cultural understanding.

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“When you announce a total lockdown and then tell that the RDCs to become the obstetrical for the mother to give birth or not, that should not be the case. I hear the President over emphasizing vehicles. It is not about vehicles, it is about mechanisms to access the health facilities,” Dr Obuku said.

“In terms of when to stop, that needs scientific basis, political and cultural understanding. There is something that President Trump called a solution being worse that problem. Mothers are suffering, children with severe pneumonia. Let's look at the deathbed of Uganda last year, according to the annual health sector report last year 4,500 people died of malaria, 2,800 from pneumonia, about 2000 from these cardiovascular diseases and 1100 mothers reported to have died in these facilities and these are preventable diseases. If you divide, you will know that Coronavirus in not a problem to Uganda that should cause other people to die.”

Dr Obuku warned that the country might lose more from measles if it turns all the attention to combating the spread of the Coronavirus.

“Coronavirus has so far, according to reports, killed nobody. It has affected less than 60. But I can tell you between the time we did the total lockdown, these 14 days; we could easily count 140 people dead from other conditions because of not being able to access emergency health care,” he added.

According to the Ministry of Health, Uganda has confirmed 55 cases of COVID-19 with 8 people discharged after testing negative twice. The country has no confirmed death from the COV-19.

Dr Obuku said that current measures may be effective in fighting the Coronavirus but the country risk increasing death from other diseases if measures don’t cater for how patients who need emergency heath care can be helped.

Dr Obuku also urged government to equip health workers on the frontline with protective gear so that they can have confidence while doing their work.

In his first speech to the country on the COVID-19 situation in Uganda on March 21, 2020, President Museveni had credited Dr. Obuku as one whose ideas on the COVID-19 in Uganda stood out.