KAMPALA – The government, through the Ministry of Health has authorised Makerere University to conduct Coronavirus tests, making it the second institution after Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) to carry out the tests.
The development was communicated by Vice Chancellor, Makerere University, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe who took to his Twitter handle noting, “I congratulate Prof. Moses Joloba and his team upon getting Government approval to start testing for Coronavirus. This is testimony to the great capacity that has been built at our science laboratories. Now we can contribute even better to fighting COVID-19. Congratulations!”
Recently, the University Hospital announced having secured 40,000 Covid-19 testing kits through the University’s research collaboration with Case Western Reserve University in the United States.
The Institution’s fight against Coronavirus was further supplemented by the purchase of four Epitents, an innovation of Makerere School of Public Health by Absa Uganda, items that were donated to the Ministry of Health to help fight COVID-19.
In 2016-2017, World Health Organization (WHO) listed the EpiTent including compendium of innovative health technologies for low-resource settings.
In a related development, Prof.Nawangwe also revealed that the University and Telecom giants are in talks to strike a deal that would enable students access learning material at the time institutions of learning are closed.
Nawangwe said, “I have held a successful meeting with Mr. Wim Vanhelleputte, the CEO of MTN Uganda on opportunities for collaboration between Makerere and MTN. The main focus was on creating way for students and staff to access our E-learning resources at zero rate. I thank Wim for this positive development.”
