{UAH} CORONA TEST KIT MISREADINGS & WHY ARE PRIVATE CLINICS KICKED OUT OF THE FIGHT AGAINST CORVID-19?

Ladies & gentlemen,

During my evening walk (picture) I was concerned about yesterdays budget speech and the new questions around the veracity of the countries Corvid-19 test kits. I have been relentlessly advocating for nationwide mass testing so I feel that we need to be clear about the testing capacity of this country, the obvious mistakes made in determining Corvid response funding priorities, and also the issue of safe public procurement processes around the pandemic.

Even without getting into all the above, Uganda has not in my view been decisive and convincing in the two most important areas in respiratory disease response.

We have seen the flip flopping on mask policy, and the complacency in prioritizing the country's Corvid-19 testing capacity.

Yet these are in my view the two most important aspects of fighting the pandemic, more critical than social-distancing and increased sanitation, because one is about being able to detect all infections and determining the true prevalence of the disease across the country, while the other is about denying the virus direct infection through the nose and mouth of all persons.

Essentially the two first lines of response and defense.

Incidentally these two critical aspects were largely maligned by the country's policy response for almost three months into the pandemic.

Mathematically there is no way that a country which did not invest in mass testing can claim to know the true prevalence of the disease, nor claim to be "winning". How do you know?

Despite having experienced several serious disease outbreaks in the last two decades including ebola, it seems we learnt little. And evidence of this failure is that to this day there is no proper National Pandemic Response Plan policy document anywhere to talk about. A national emergency plan which could simply be activated as soon as there is an outbreak, and everyone would know immediately what to do. What we have seen instead is unclear directive after unclear directive, requiring clarification after clarification, and this leading to confusion upon confusion in the public domain.

I have persistently raised some of these public health policy deficiencies from the very beginning, and nobody is stating that these inconsistencies could partly be the direct cause of the public's apathy and fatigue towards abiding by sometimes confusing, sometimes illogical, and sometimes contradictory guidelines.

People know seriousness and consistency when they see it.

And while the government clearly seems to have no plan on how to correct the general public's compliance rates, it now turns out there could still be another huge demon lurking behind the nation's fight against the corona virus. A disturbing policy that could be maliciously restricting Uganda's full capacity to handle the pandemic.

It is estimated that the vast majority of Ugandans go for medical treatment at private dispensaries, private clinics, private hospitals and many even get their treatment directly from private pharmacies without first seeing any doctor (Obviously this a dangerous abuse of pharmacy regulation by pharmacists and needs to be stopped).

The private sector therefore plays the biggest role in daily healthcare services for the people of Uganda compared to government health centers and government hospitals. The private sectors nationwide contribution in health services is not negligeable by any measure, and cannot be simply discarded.

In the course of todays Corvid-19 pandemic, their role, particularly in regards to management of Corona virus cases, medical quarantine, contact tracing and most of all, testing of actual Corvid-19 cases, seems to be completely non-existent.

The question now is why would the biggest portion of the country's healthcare capacity be summarily left out from fighting a global pandemic? Especially when common sense would have dictated that the private hospitals and clinics actually supplement governments efforts and even help address any sporadic weaknesses in government corvid response capabilities.

However, based on my inquiries, that does not seem to be the case.

In fact it seems as if management of the pandemic has been stealthily monopolized, and the private sector has been quietly ordered out of the effort.

Why?

This is a major public health policy concern of public interest. It needs to be openly discussed, including in parliament and the media if necessary. The lives of the people of Uganda are at stake. Should someone be allowed to play with that for their own ulterior financial, political, or other gains?

Indeed it is criminal to do so.

Given that the National Corvid-19 Task Force claims it is trying so hard to save lives, then how come they have seemingly summarily sidelined more than two thirds of the nations entire medical response capacity, the whole private sector?

The Task Force and the Ministry if health should clarify on this matter. Especially now that the country is hearing that government test kits are inaccurate, yet the private sector could raise their own funds and source more effective ones internationally.

The people of Uganda should have their eyes opened to what could be happening behind their backs, and at the expense of their lives.

Because all around the world, governments are coordinating Corvid-19 frontline efforts with the private sector, private hospitals and private clinics on top of government hospitals.

So what is secretly going on in Uganda?

I understand that Doctor Ian Clarke is a board member on the Ugandan Corvid-19 Task Force. He also happens to be the head of the national association of private healthcare providers. Therefore best placed to respond honestly to these public concerns. Maybe even clarify on the subject in his Sunday column in The New Vision which I like so much and have been following for over 20 years.

Because I haven't heard any local media house, or NGO, or civil society, or Western partner embassy, or national politician raise this disturbing issue.

Thank You!

Signed: Mr. Hussein Lumumba Amin

Kampala, Uganda.

Date: 12th/06/2020

Cc:

New Vision

Daily Monitor

The Observer

The Independent Magazine - Uganda

Red Pepper

Bukedde

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