Panic At Makerere University Over Escalating Covid-19 Cases Among Students, University Hospital Out Of Testing Kits
By Uganda Online Media
President Yoweri Museveni has appointed Maj Tom Magambo who has been in the Internal Security Organisations(ISO) as the new police Criminal Investigations Director.
“President Museveni has promoted Private Tom Magambo to the rank of Major and appointed him Director Criminal Investigations of the Uganda Police Force,” the acting UPDF spokesperson, Lt Col Ronald Kakurungu said in a statement.
Kampala: Makerere University students are currently living in fear over the increased number of Covid-19 cases on the campus.
This has been confirmed by Mwesigwa Calvin, the guild minister for health at Makerere noting that cases of students with signs of Covid19 are very high, especially after the recently concluded festive weekend.
Following the concerns, Guild President Shamim Nambassa visited the Makerere University hospital where they discovered that the situation was getting out of hand.
According to Nambassa, at least 4 out of every 10 students have tested positive for Covid-19 and the Makerere University Hospital has also run out of test kits, which limits the ability to effectively test students.
“Students are being charged up to Shs 100,000 to get tested, and to acquire basic medication by the facility, despite hospital fee being catered for under functional fee,” Nambassa noted.
The development comes at a time when the students are preparing for their end-of-semester examinations in January next week and the situation has left many students worried about how exams will be carried out in such an environment, without putting other students at risk.
Nambassa has however tasked Prof. Umar Kakumba, who is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs to come out and intervene over the shortage of testing materials at the university hospital.
The student leadership wants mass testing for Covid-19 to be free for all students, urging that the fee is already covered in the functional fees that the students pay.
