KIU, Western Campus – The KIU Teaching Hospital COVID-19 task force has advised the general public to re-adhere to the Ministry of Health safety measures against COVID-19 or risk increase in community transmissions.

Dr Sam Kyalema (in the picture), the focal person for COVID-19 at the Emergency Centre of KIU Teaching hospital called upon the public to desist from the laxity that has come with partial lifting of the lockdown government had imposed in March.

“When the lockdown was imposed in March, there was positive usage of the Standard Operating procedures (SOPs) as advised by the Ministry of Health, for both the public and medical personnel,” Dr Kyalema reminisces.

“But easing the lockdown measures has led to relaxation of adherence. Public transport operators are carrying more people than required, restaurants and hotels are overcrowded and Boda-Boda riders do not register passengers and neither do they have hand sanitizer or request their passengers to wear masks,” he adds.

This, he says, is putting the gains made in the fight against COVID-19 at risk.

Dr Kyalema advises the health workers to propagate change by encouraging the masses to do the right thing. He also says that the district authorities should be active in enforcing the COVID-19 safety measures among the public.

“Re-sensitisation of the public at all levels should also be done immediately. People need to know that COVID-19 is real. In the beginning, continuous sensitization was being done but nowadays, this has been ignored,” he says.

He also maintained that the KIU Teaching hospital COVID-19 taskforce was maintaining hygiene and screening but he decried the inadequate Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) being availed by the government.