16 January 2007
Kampala — MOST health units in Kasese district have been flooded with malaria patients in an unprecedented outbreak of the disease, reports John Nzinjah.
"The situation is so pathetic. We have not experienced a similar situation in the last five years," an officer at Kilembe Hospital said on Sunday.
The hospitals' acting medical superintendent, Dr. Kacucu Atwooki, on Sunday reorganised the duty roster to increase the medical staff.
Many patients were seen lying along the corridors and verandas of the wards.
Another official said: "Our staff are not enough to handle the situation. We are, however, lucky that we have a nursing school that has offered us some trainees."
"Yesterday, we admitted over 100 people. We had to admit only those who were in critical condition," a nurse said.
In the children's ward, drip bottles were hanging everywhere. Some were being suspended from windows, others from six-inch nails hammered into the walls.
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