The World Health Organization (WHO) and Uganda plan to import medical oxygen from neighboring Kenya as a virulent second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate the country, a WHO official said on Wednesday.
Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, WHO representative to Uganda, told Xinhua by telephone that health authorities are working to increase oxygen supply to address the nationwide shortages, caused by a high demand in the wake of surging COVID-19 cases. “We are working with the Ministry of Health to increase oxygen supply including options to import from Kenya,” said Woldemariam. Uganda’s ministry of health on Monday announced that the country is running short of medical oxygen as health officials continue to grapple with the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.
Diana Atwine, permanent secretary at the ministry of health, told local media that there was a high demand for oxygen due to a surge in the number of COVID-19 patients in High Dependency Units and Intensive Care Units (ICU) nationwide. Uganda reported on Tuesday 1,422 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the national tally to 64,251, and 25 deaths, the highest daily increase that brought the fatalities to 459, according to the official figures.
