Kampala — MEDICAL workers at Bundibugyo Hospital have either fled or are down with the deadly Ebola disease that has ravaged the western district since August, killing close to 20 people by this week.

While it is unethical for the medical personnel to leave their patients at the mercy of God, the despicable front page picture in The New Vision of Tuesday speaks volumes about the facilities available to handle contagious diseases like Ebola. The picture showed a woman without any protective gear attending to a suspected Ebola patient. A team from the Ministry of Health headquarters that is in the district should be ashamed that no simple protective wears like gloves could be provided to those attending to their sick relatives. This demonstrates how sick our health service system is. No wonder that the medical personnel had to desert the patients immediately the strange disease was diagnosed as Ebola. The death of Dr. Matthew Lukwiya due to Ebola in 2,000 is still fresh in our minds.

Ebola has been recurring in Uganda and the neighbouring countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan for the past decade or so. THERE was an Ebola outbreak in the DRC in September. As such, there should have been no excuse for the ministry not to have in stock the very basic protective gear when Ebola was next door. The lack of preparedness by the ministry demonstrates lack of planning by the responsible department.

Since Ebola has become common in Uganda, the ministry should ensure that health units are equipped with the basic facilities to enable the medical workers safely discharge their duties during epidemics.

The ministry should also adopt a proactive rather than a reactive approach in handling emergencies by strengthening its disease surveillance system. It should immediately launch a public campaign on the prevention and management of Ebola. It should also disinfect all homes of the Ebola victims as a standard practice to ensure total eliminate of the virus.