Luuka District Woman Member of Parliament, Esther Mbayo has entered into agreement with doctors from UK and US to annually come to Uganda and organize a medical camp in Luuka district.
The development comes after a medical camp that was organized by Obwa Tabingwa bwa Luuka (the hereditary leadership of Luuka chiefdom) in collaboration with Uganda Development and Health Associates UDHA in Bukooma, Ikumbya, Bulongo, Bukanga and Irongo sub counties all in Luuka district in November last year, with support from local politicians especially Mbayo.
After visiting the previous camp on November 11th at Nakabondo Primary school in Bukanga Sub County and finding an overwhelming number of people seeking diagnosis and treatment of several diseases, Hon Mbayo who is also the minister for presidency wrote to the visiting team of medics from USA asking them to make it an annual event.
“Their doctors have accepted to be coming every second week of November and conduct a week long medical camp in Luuka. They also promised to mobilize more friends to join them for effective service delivery,” Mbayo told ChimpReports.
She said that Dr. Peter Waiswa, a Ugandan medical doctor and health systems researcher with particular focus on newborn health and development and maternal-newborn-child health services has offered to be coordinating all the activities of the annual camp.
“It is true that we need such partners to boost the government’s effort in health service delivery and our people have much trust in the services offered by those whites. I only call upon my people of Luuka to always pay attention to their programme every November,” Mbayo added.
Patients wait on doctors for treatment during the November 2016 camp
She however quickly urged her constituents to also seek health services from the available health units.
“Don’t only wait for whites in November even when there is an illness bothering you now; let the camp serve only those who will be found sick at that time.”
Luuka RDC, Stephen Nsubuga Bewayo says the previous medical camp benefited over 5000 patients.
“Some people were escaping from health centres and clinics to visit the respective venues of the camp though many were still left out because the doctors had underestimated the number of patients,” Bewayo said.
Godfrey Talima, a resident of Namalemba village in Bulongo Sub County whose tooth was extracted in the recent camp says the foreign doctors are polite and kind to patients unlike the usual team of local health attendants.
When contacted, Dr Waiswa who will be coordinating the medical camps said that it is his pride using his acquired knowledge and skills to save a life.
“It is just luck and God’s Grace that we have doctors from America and elsewhere joining us but this is some work we would even do on our own” he said.