Police at Naggalama intercepted the A-plus Funeral Management Service vehicle that was transporting the body to Kayunga, on the orders of the Ministry of Health. Subsequently, the Ministry of Health recommended that the deceased be buried by a professional team from the Uganda Red Cross Society to avoid any kind of exposure to family and the community.
The Ministry of health has
downplayed suspicion and fears arising out of a guarded burial held on Monday
in Kasawo Village, Kayunga District. Area residents had earlier feared that the deceased could have succumbed to coronavirus disease-COVID-19.
The deceased identified as Daniel
Bulasiyo Ssebuliba reportedly died in Qatar after collapsing in a bathroom at
the beginning of the month. His body was returned into the country on Sunday,
aboard a cargo flight, for burial on Monday.
However, Police at Naggalama
intercepted the A-plus Funeral Management Service vehicle that was transporting
the body to Kayunga, on the orders of the Ministry of Health. Subsequently, the
Ministry of Health recommended that the deceased be buried by a professional
team from the Uganda Red Cross Society to avoid any kind of exposure to family
and the community.
Uganda Red Cross Society
Spokesperson Irene Nakasiita says that this was mainly because the process of
moving a dead body that came through a high-risk country and Transit centre can
easily become a point of infection and transfer of the Coronavirus disease.
//Cue in; “Tetwagala kukiwa nti…
Cue out…jjayiseemu tomanya.”//
Dr George Epenyu, the Commissioner
for Health Services at the MoH says that they learnt that Ssebuliba had died of
a respiratory disease, even though not classified as COVID-19, forcing them to intercept
the procession and ensure that he is given a dignified burial with utmost
safety.
//Cue in; “This person whose…
Cue out…from Entebbe”//
The body of the deceased arrived
just moments after the President Yoweri Museveni advised against returning
bodies of persons who die from abroad, until after the COVID-19 pandemic is
wiped out. A family member to the
deceased, Gladys Nakankya says that the casket was air bound, by the time the
order was issued.
Kayunga Resident District Commissioner Margret
Mwanamoiza Kikomeko says three A-plus funeral services workers and two-family
members who got in contact with the deceased are currently quarantined at the
district isolation centre, awaiting their results from the Uganda Virus
Research Institute.
