Renson Mwakandana
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has ordered traditional healers to cease treating patients during the existing Ebola epidemic, which has already claimed the lives of 19 individuals there. Additionally, the president instructed security personnel to detain anyone who refuses to enter isolation after being suspected of harboring the virus.
He instructed herbalists and traditional healers not to treat those who were thought to be sick with the viral hemorrhagic fever in a televised speech to the nation, during which he shifted to the widely spoken Luganda language to address them directly.
It comes after the passing of a 45-year-old man who was reported as having been exposed to the Ebola virus by medical personnel.
The man, who passed away in a hospital in Kampala, the capital, had left his community in the outbreak’s epicenter’s Mubende area. He went elsewhere for treatment before showing up at the Kampala hospital, where he later passed away, according to the authorities.
Some of the man’s relatives have been quarantined, while others have fled the country. They were pushed by the president to go to the hospitals.
Despite Mr. Museveni’s claim that there are presently no confirmed Ebola cases in Kampala, he advised the people to be watchful and reaffirmed his confidence in medical professionals to put an end to the outbreak.
So far, 54 instances of Ebola have been confirmed. Twenty people have recovered, including five medical professionals.
