The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, has asked the public for patience with the COVID-19 taskforce as it investigates the mysterious human flu virus in institutions of learning.
Aceng was responding to a matter of national importance raised by the Bugiri Woman MP, Hon. Agnes Taaka, who said that the ministry was denying parents access to help groom their children.
“I would like to appreciate that children have been in school since January 2022 and the COVID -19 positivity rate has dropped to 0.4 per cent. Many members are aware there is a lot of flu in the schools and we have taken initiative to test children so that we know exactly what we are dealing with,” Aceng said.
The minister noted that whereas the decision has been made in good faith, she was positive that the school staff would not infect the children.
“The teachers responded positively to vaccination and 85 per cent of both the teaching and non-teaching staff have been vaccinated and the majority even have a booster shot,” she said.
Taaka was concerned that the Ministry of Health had delayed to normalise the school programmes by restricting school visitations.
“Some schools have both day and boarding students. The markets are fully opened and there is interaction with the students who are in day school. The parents also have a responsibility to groom their children together with the teachers, but the ministry keeps on denying them this opportunity while at school,” Taaka said.
Hon. Patrick Nsamba (NUP, Kassanda County North) noted that as much as the Ministry of Health, was restricting the parents from schools, there were staff members who commute.
“These children interact with teaching and non-teaching staff that do not reside in the school. The day scholars interact with their parents why not the boarders? I think it is unfair for the boarders who have been denied access to their parents,” he said.
The Busia Municipality MP, Hon. Geoffrey Macho, asked the ministry to give a proper plan for the way forward for the citizens.
“When shall Ugandans stop buying masks to protect themselves from the COVID-19? Can’t we have a proper plan that we can follow like our counterparts in Kenya?” Macho asked.