Several dwellers in Kampala and cities close to the capital have protested the deliverance of Covid 19 cash by the government of Uganda to the different mobile money numbers of vulnerable Ugandans.
The city residents instead want government to offer Covidex to each Ugandan as a remedy to the most at risk areas in the fight against Covid 19.
Government on Tuesday announced that it will send mobile money of Ugx 100,000 to more than 500,000 Ugandans across cities and municipalities in the country as part of their Covid 19 emergency response to Ugandans.
Government also indicated that those affected by the lockdown who will receive the relief include tax and bus drivers, baggage transporters among others.
However, some of the intended beneficiaries have protested the delivery of the cash and instead asked government to send them doses of Covidex; a herbal drug government approved on the same day government announced the intended beneficiaries of the Covid Cash.
Covidex is a drug that has been approved by the National Drug Authority to supplement Covid treatment in the country.
Charles Ssenkabirwa, a Saloon operator in Kinoni, Makerere, Kampala City said there is no need for government to send money to the different beneficiaries but asked that the most appropriate remedy is to send drugs to most of the vulnerable dwellers in Kampala City.
“Ugx 100,000 cannot help anyone from suffering from hunger for a week. Instead, government could send the Covidex drug and all those who have the virus can be healed,” he said.
The Covidex drug is said to be sold at Ugx 30,000 per dose.
A taxi operator Abbasi Kasirye told Entebbe Post that there is need to set priorities as a country to ensure that we have a lasting solution.
“To provide Ugx 100,000 if it is not stolen by those in government cannot help. Instead, now that we have a drug that can heal us, government ought to supply it to all the people at a free cost,” he said.
The Covidex drug according to the National Drug Authority can only supplement other drugs offered in hospitals to treat Covid 19. Government has not yet declared that Covidex is a drug that can cure the Covid 19 virus. It has however said, the drug can supplement Covid 19 treatment.
More than 1,000,000 people have been affected by the Covid 19 virus in Uganda while more than 100 health officered have suffered with the Covid 19 virus in several parts of the country.
