In an interview on August 8, Dr Ezra Nnunda, the Chief Medical Officer of the ongoing two-weeks medical camp, said the diseases are hereditary and when detected early, children are able to avoid situations that predispose them to the diseases.
Parents, who have been diagnosed with diabetes or high blood pressure, have been asked to test their children for the diseases early.
In an interview on August 8, Dr Ezra Nnunda, the Chief Medical Officer of the ongoing two-weeks medical camp, said the diseases are hereditary and when detected early, children are able to avoid situations that predispose them to the diseases.
The camp was organised by the Indo Africa Charitable Society.
“These are hereditary diseases, if you have it and get to know early enough, you know what to do or what not to do and this quickens your life or prolongs it. Otherwise such people should be getting the disease after 50 years,” he said.
On August 1, the Indo Africa Charitable Society together with Shree Kuchchhi Leva Patel Samaj-Uganda and Satsang Swaminarayan Temple launched a 10-day medical camp to screen residents of Bukoto, Ntinda and Kamwokya, for all diseases, including HIV/Aids, TB, Covid-19 and offered them medication and referral to other hospitals.
Dr Nnunda said by last Saturday, of the 10,000 patients they tested, 1,500 had diabetes, 4,000 hypertension, one tested positive for Covid-19 and three tested positive for HIV.
Mr Umesh Amin, the coordinator of the annual medical camps, said they are offering free screening and treatment for diseases such as diabetes, blood donations, high blood pressure, Tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, gynaecology oral diseases, sight prostate cancer and breast cancer, among others.
“In 2017, we treated 18,000 patients in Kamuli, in 2019 we treated 27,000 patients in Jinja and operated 500 cataracts patients. Last year, we distributed over 5,000 free glasses in Kamuli and Mbale. We have medicine enough to treat between 30,000 and 40,000 patients,” he said.
According Ramesh Halai, the secretary general Shree Kuchchhi Leva Patel Samaj-Uganda, together with Shree Kutch Satsang Swaminarayan Temple Kampala, Indo Africa, Isso Seva USA, the Patel community is the largest Indian community in Uganda, adding that they collected close to $300,000 (Shs1.1b) for the medical camp and they partnered with Mengo hospital, Agrawarl Eye hospital and Ministry of Health to provide the free medical services.
Dr Charles Olaro, the director of Curative Services, said the initiative addresses challenges that the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions brought when government suspended medical camps and public activities.
He said the lockdown affected activities such as HIV/Aids testing, screening for Tuberculosis, and immunisation.
“In 2020, when Covid-19 came, all these activities came to a halt, but you also know that all the other illnesses did not go to sleep. This camp is addressing all the key aspects affecting the population in maternal health, child health, dental care, eye care and optics specialist care,” he said.
