Uganda has removed the Covid-19 testing machine- Gene Xpert from Mutukula border after failing to agree with service providers.
The GeneXpert machine uses ink to print out the results of the people it has tested and it has been very instrumental at the Uganda-Tanzania borderline since it was saving time for travellers moving in and out of Uganda. Results were always released as earlier as possible compared to the ordinary testing.
Sources reveal that the machine’s ink got used up in the month of May last year and all that time government has been negotiating with the service providers in the United States, however, they have since yielded no fruitful results.
Uganda initially has been having three machines and two of them were put at the border points of Busia to test people coming in Uganda and those going to Kenya, the second one which is down currently was put at Mutukula and the other was put at the Uganda Virus Research Institute Entebbe.
In a nutshell, despite the increasing number of Covid-19 cases and deaths, Uganda currently has two machines that can masterfully test Covid-19 in a short period.
According to the Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Dr Diana Atwine, the machine was shifted from the border and it’s set to start making tests of other diseases but not Covid-19.
Currently, Covid-19 testing or check-ups at the Mutukula border is done ordinarily like how it was conducted before the coming of GeneXpert machines in Uganda, thus the results of those checked or tested for Covid-19 at the Uganda-Tanzania border are now delivered after 2-3 days yet the machines had solved the problem of delay.Results by GeneXpart would be delivered within a period of 30-45 minutes.
“Cartilages are manufactured in the US and they have very limited capacity and they prefer to supply their market, Uganda what we got was from the lobbying through Global Fund. Therefore, we are still waiting for them to get us other cartilages. These are multipurpose machines if you don’t have cartilages for a certain disease you can put it other cartilage and it tests for a different disease,” She said.
Dr Atwine added that the level at which Covid-19 reached in Uganda is beyond ministry’s capacity only now it’s upon Ugandans on how they should protect themselves against this pandemic.
As per the last result from the Ministry of Health in the month of January only over 39 people have succumbed to covid-19 while 36,470 people have tested positive.
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