Mulago Denies Downplaying Covid19 Effects

Mulago Hospital has Thursday clarified that the statements made by the senior officials advising the government to lift lockdown were a misinterpretation.

The National Referral Hospital said in a statement that its top officials were misquoted by the media purportedly advising government to scale down its Covid 19 prevention measures.

Daily Monitor this week quoted Mulago Hospital Executive Director Dr Baterana Byarugaba saying that Ugandans should stop fearing corona virus because it is a mild flu which does not require hospital admission since it can be treated at home.

“I told Ugandans right from the beginning that the type of corona virus we except in Uganda is a mild one. It can be treated at health Centre II, III, IV or the district hospital,” Dr Baterana was quoted speaking at a Rotary Club event on Tuesday.

However Mulago hospital today came out to clarify that Dr Baterana’s comments were misconstrued by the media.

“We commented that it would be good for government to ease the lockdown only if people can take responsibility to observe social distancing, avoiding the temptation of touching the face, nose and mouth, washing hands and using hand sanitizers.” Mulago said

The hospital adds that they attributed the absence of covid-19 related death in Uganda to the great efforts put in place by Ministry of health.

Furthermore, Mulago says in the same message it called upon Ugandans to protect themselves from Covid-19 as it is clearly evident that the virus can kill anybody anywhere.

“Therefore, we appeal to the public to disregard the falsehood in the story created by the unfortunate misinterpretation.” Mulago said.

With just over 1,051 confirmed Covid 19 cases and more than 1,000 recoveries Uganda is still the only country in the world with such a high number of cases with no covid 19 related death registered.