Re: Uganda: Hemorrhagic fever outbreak- 48 dead, 190 infected - Yellow Fever
Re: Uganda: Hemorrhagic fever outbreak- 48 dead, 190 infected - Yellow Fever
Disgusting. This will not help control the outbreak.
A special hat-tip to the folks at the Daily Monitor for this expose.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1086680/-/cjbb3pz/-/
Get a yellow fever card for only Shs25,000
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By Daily Monitor Reporter (email the author)
Posted Monday, January 10 2011 at 00:00
It is 3:25pm I walk towards Kampala City Council (KCC) clinic for yellow fever vaccination. On this sunny afternoon, I arrive at the KCC gate opposite the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development, clearing beads of sweat off my face.
A private guard asks me what I want and I tell her I was proceeding to the clinic for a medical checkup.
“What kind of checkup? Tell me, maybe I can help you,” she insists. I tell her it is about my personal health and I can only discuss it with a doctor.
“You are becoming stubborn. I would have helped and opened for you but I will not. This gate is only used by police and prisons officials. Go through the lower gate,” she orders.
Without hesitation, I proceed to the ‘civilian’ gate opposite dfcu bank Impala branch.
In the parking yard is a group of three ladies and a gentleman the guard asks whether they want to be vaccinated or they want yellow fever cards. I later see exchange of paper and money.
At this moment, I have no idea of who to deal with and I spend some 40 minutes watching the situation.
Later I target one man whom I engage in Lusamia.
He tells me if I want the vaccine it will cost Shs45,000 but if I want the card, I can only pay Shs25,000.
I try to negotiate but he tells me that the money is shared by many people. I later accept and he replies, “Deal, give me a few minutes”.
Thirty minutes later, the man has not yet returned. I develop second thoughts and fear that I could fall in a trap and be arrested for allegedly bribing public officers.
But I steady my nerves, consoling my self that the investigation was in public interest to save lives and public resources.
Reassuring though is the fact that I had not paid the agent for the card.
As I debate whether to leave or not, the man arrives with the card complete with KCC stamps but my details, including name, passport number, among others were not filled. He takes me through how to fill the blank spaces.
I pay him and leave with my vaccination card although I have not received the vaccine just like eight other people who appeared at the clinic while I was there.
I later realise that the security guard could have got me the card if I had not been ‘stubborn’.
I cannot help wondering about the smoothness of teh process.
The rot in fight against an old deadly disease
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http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1086678/-/cjbb4dz/-/
The rot in yellow fever vaccination
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By Flavia Lanyero (email the author)
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Posted Monday, January 10 2011 at 00:00
Even as Uganda struggles to cope with an outbreak of yellow fever, some conmen are selling vaccination cards to people who have not been vaccinated, a Daily Monitor investigation has shown.
At the South African embassy for example, six out of 10 yellow cards presented as part of requirements for visa applications, are found to be fake—creating the risk of the disease being spread to countries not infected.
The fraud
At Kampala City Council Hospital, just next to the imposing White Hall that houses the council’s offices, the illegal trade in yellow fever cards is lucrative and bustling.
The “hawkers”, casually dressed unlike their tattered-trouser donning counterparts downtown, are busy; hovering in the hospital compound on the look out for clients to buy the vaccination cards at a give-away price.
The well-knit web starts from the hospital gatekeeper. She is quick to ask whoever is entering the premises what business brings them there. If the answer is to get the vaccine, the small talk begins.
Under normal circumstances, vaccination and a card for proof costs Shs46,000 at this facility—but if you bargain with these “hawkers”, you could get one for as low as Shs15,000, without even being vaccinated. Our reporter was charged Shs25,000 for the card (read detailed account of this transaction above).
The South African High Commissioner to Uganda, Mr Jon Qwelane, says the black market in vaccination cards is a serious problem. He does not just fear the spread of the disease to his country but the blatant abuse of ethical standards of disease control.
He said even some senior Uganda government officials (whom he opted not to name) have been bounced at the embassy for showing fake cards.
“I definitely will not be complementary to Uganda on this,” Mr Qwelane said. “We can have as many as five to six fake cards out of 10. The thing is what is Uganda doing about it?”
Enacting laws
“Any orderly state starts from the basis of fulfilling their obligations, we should see Uganda councillors enact laws to stamp it out, police arrest people and they are convicted,” he added.
But the Kampala District Director of Health Services, Dr Livingstone Makanga, says whereas officials have heard about the problem no one has been arrested—the last case having been about three years ago.
He says the practice of selling fake cards initially came up because of a shortage of the vaccine but added that the government was now stocking the medicine—and discouraged use of dubious means.
“We have one signatory to the booklets and certificate with particular stamps that are supposed to be authentic. We have written to the different embassies and consulates of the countries notifying them of the changes,” Dr Makanga said.
But these particular cards are genuine, bearing the official hospital stamp and raising the possibility of insiders being involved.
The Centre for Disease Control estimates that a traveller’s risk of acquiring yellow fever is determined by various factors, including one’s immunisation status, location of travel, season, duration of exposure, occupational and recreational activities while travelling, and local rate of virus transmission at the time of travel. The vaccine should be administered 10 days before a person travels.
Mass immunisation
Thirty-nine out of the 53 countries in Africa are at a high risk of transmitting yellow fever, including Uganda.
Last week, the Ministry of Health started a process to secure Shs12 billion as a supplementary budget to fight an outbreak of the disease in northern Uganda. The funds will facilitate mass vaccination in 26 districts, although the disease is still confined in the 10; Abim, Agago, Lamwo, Pader, Kitgum, Gulu, Arua, Kaabong, Kotido and Lira.
The Minister for Health, Dr Stephen Mallinga, while asking Parliament to approve the money request, said the ministry had limited resources and capacity to do laboratory tests for the disease.
Close to 50 people have died and another 190 infected in the past couple of weeks since the disease was first detected.
