Category «Health»

The Ministry of Health is determined to reduce the under-five mortality rate to 56 per 1000 live births in the next two years. The current mortality rate for children below five years in Uganda stands at 90 per 1000, according to ministry of health. The Director General of Health Services at the ministry Dr. Jane Acheng says they intend to achieve their target through increasing promotions on childhood health. She says they are committed to maximally reduce diseases such as pneumonia, malaria and HIV that are still a threat to young children.      

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A looming Polio outbreak threatens over 2 million children in Uganda. The World Health Organisation has revealed that over 2.6 million children are at risk of contracting the wild Polio Virus. This has been revealed during the ongoing meeting of Director Generals from the East, Central and Southern Africa health community. They say to date there are 100 polio cases in Somalia and 10 in Kenya, putting the lives of Ugandan children at risk due to high  mobility along the border. Dr. Samuel Okirio from World Health Organization says the Horn of Africa has the highest number of unimmunized children in the world estimated at one million which poses a threat to Uganda that last reported a case in 2011. …

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Lira referral hospital is grappling with staff shortage. The Acting Director Dr. William Ocen has told Members of Parliament on the Health Committee that the hospital has nine doctors out of the 41 approved posts. Of the nine doctors, seven are specialists but four are not appointed. Ocen says this is affecting service delivery. He is asking the Ministry of Public Service to come to their rescue.

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A senior gynecologist at Mulago Hospital has been suspended for two years over misconduct. Dr. Asinja Kapur is said to have altered a medical report involving a couple whose baby boy disappeared at the hospital. They were instead given a corpse of baby girl. The Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Council has confirmed that Dr. Asinja altered original records showing that the couple had delivered a baby boy. The 2006 incident involved Sauda Nabakiibi and her husband Farouk Bukenya, who conducted DNA tests and confirmed that their samples did not match with those of the body they were given. The head of the Council, Dr. Joel Okello says investigations will continue and over 35 cases involving exchange of babies at …

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Uganda has adequate condoms in stock. The Ministry of Health says it has enough condom stocks to last for about half a year. This comes on the backdrop of reports of recent condom shortages in some parts of the country. Appearing before Parliament’s Health committee today, the coordinator of the ABC desk at the ministry, Vastha Kibirige told MPs that the last condom shortage last year was due to delays in the pre-testing exercise which was rectified. Kibirige however says the ministry requires funding to clear about 280 million condoms this month, with a batch containing 450 condoms requiring about Shs 700,000 to be cleared.

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