By MARTINS E. SSEKWEYAMA
Posted
Monday, March 28
2016 at
01:00
Masaka. Masaka Regional Referral Hospital has embarked on construction of an isolation ward for multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients, to prevent further spread of the disease.
MDR-TB occurs when the infection gets advanced and becomes resistant to the first line of treatment.
Mr Eleazer Mugisha, the Masaka Hospital principal administrator, said last week they considered a special ward for this category of patients due to the high intricacy involved in managing their condition.
He explained that such patients need to be attended to from an isolated facility which has not been in place despite the recurrent need, revealing that the hospital already has 24 MDR-TB patients and expects the number to increase given the regular cases reported.
“The construction of this special ward is a health support project, funded by the United States government under the Strengthening Uganda’s System to Fight HIV/Aids nationally-SUSTAIN project,” he said
Completion
According to Dr Benedict Kiwanuka, the in charge of the general ward at the hospital, once TB patients develop resistance to drugs, they stand higher chances of infecting more people thus maintaining the tuberculosis cycle in the area. The 50-bed capacity ward is expected to be completed by June this year.
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com
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