Ministry of Health cleared to import Ebola drugs

By Our Reporter

18^th June 2019

The health ministry has been cleared to import drugs that would be used to treat Ebola patients.

The Health minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng‏ has revealed that they got clearance from Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) and National Drug Authority (NDA) to bring in the Therapeutic treatment for Ebola patients in the country.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there is currently no antiviral drug licensed by the U.S’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat EVD in people.

Drugs that are being developed to treat EVD work by stopping the virus from making copies of it and also manage opportunistic diseases.

Uganda has so far lost two people and a handful still in the isolation center at Bwera in Kasese District near the Uganda- DR. Congo boarder where highly risky movements of people suspected to have or haven been in contact with Ebola patient cross from.

Although the country has in the past been hit by the deadly disease and lost many lives, lessons have been learnt and the country is in a much better position to deal with Ebola.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in Kenya has confirmed that there is no Ebola in the country after Laboratory results from the blood samples of a 36-year-old patient who was taken into isolation on Sunday at Kericho Referral Hospital were negative for Ebola.