Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng says while the increased pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic lead to increased road accidents like already being reported in various places, incidents requiring emergency care including domestic violence and alcohol intoxication tend to increase too.
(URN)
The Ministry of Health -MOH have set aside a fleet of 300 ambulances that will be managed by regional referral hospital administrators across the country in readiness to respond to eventualities of Christmas feasting tomorrow and the New Year festivities.
Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng says while the increased pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic lead to increased road accidents like already being reported in various places, incidents requiring emergency care including domestic violence and alcohol intoxication tend to increase too.
Urging the public to grant way to ambulances in emergency mode, she says these services will be deployed until the 5th of January, with Uganda Police and the Red Cross being responsible for road traffic accidents being helped by the 600 health workers assigned to handle emergencies.
The Ministry has also put up a special toll free number for central coordination housed at the ambulance coordination center located at Naguru hospital.
On his part, the Inspector General of Police Okoth Ochola urged the public to take Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) including mask wearing, avoiding crowds and respecting curfew seriously as they feast.
“We are currently, faced with another significant risk of the new Omicron variant, which if we do not take seriously, will cost us many more lives and other health risks”,
he said in his end of year message
adding that in addition to the pandemic, the country is faced with the challenges of domestic extremism including the emergence of a new rebel group, the Uganda Coalition Forces of Change, seeking to exploit the festive season.
This comes after Uganda police earlier released their festive season alert warning the public to beware of scammers creating fake event pages, social media posts and emails.
“The festive season also comes with pop-up holiday events or virtual events, where scammers are creating fake event pages, social media posts and emails,”
Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga warned in a statement.
“Also be wary of look-alike websites, especially for utility services, which offer very attractive rates for services. Scammers create these to make dead-end purchases and steal private information from clients.”
