By Editorial
The Ministry of Health has received a mobile laboratory worth 700 million Shillings to strengthen surveillance of infectious diseases and healthcare systems along the borders.
The lab which will be stationed at the Central Health Laboratories in Butabika National Referral Hospital in Kampala was donated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in partnership with the European Union.
The Mobile Lab, the third of the five required by the Ministry of health, will be used to collect specimens from suspected patients across the country and within cross-border areas in case of disease outbreaks for transportation and testing.
Hon. Margret Muhanga, the Sate Minister for Primate Care who lauded the donors, noted that Uganda is vulnerable to several disease outbreaks given its location within the Congo rainforest and basin citing Ebola which recently ravaged Kassanda and Mubende Districts killing 77 and infecting 160 others. Hon. Muhanga speaking……..
Speaking during the same event, Hamid Idrees, an IGAD’s Health and Social Development Division expert explained that the mobile lab will help sample referrals from cross-border areas in case of an outbreak to the nearest lab for testing. END