RUBIRIZI – Health workers at Rugazi Health center IV in Rubirizi district are worried of getting infected with COVID-19 if they do not get Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as the district lies at the borderline with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Rugazi health center IV is the biggest health unit in Rubirizi district which serves over 120,000 people in the area. Health workers at the facility say they do not have PPE which puts their lives at risk of coronavirus.
“We are working but some of the essentials equipment like facemasks, we do not have when you reach at our different wards, we have many patients some are sleeping on the floor, they do not have masks, we do not have masks.” Mr Tadeo Baluku, a health worker at Rugazi health center IV said.
Baluku said there are many patients at the facility who do not have masks and yet they have other ailments like TB which can as well be spread to health workers.
“Patients come with many different conditions like TB and other ailments that we can be infected with not specifically Covid-19 so you cannot go in a ward of 20 people without any protection and you cannot wait for me to get sick then you bring a mask,” he said.
Mr Mugabe Cornelius, another health worker said if they are not provided with facemasks, their lives are being put at a high risk because the district borders with democratic Republic of Congo.
“We are asking for the protective equipment that can protect us as health workers, they claim that everything was brought but we have not received anything. We do not even have facemask, you touch a patient without a facemask,” Mugabe said.
“Rubirizi is at the border with Democratic Republic of Congo and once this pandemic reaches here we can be infected so let the responsible people bring PPEs so that we feel safe while treating people,” he added.
Rugazi health center IV in charge Aidah Nankinga said they have requested for equipment from National medical stores but their requisition is yet to be responded to which is putting their lives at the health center in danger.
“We need Personal Protective Equipment, we have gloves but masks is a very big problem which we do not have yet so if we get masks, they will help us so we ask national medical stores to work on the requisitions we gave them. We are even short of mattresses because patients have increased,” Nankyinga said.
