The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has defended her earlier claim of the existence of a spray that can kill the Coronavirus and how it would be available to Ugandans shortly. This after the head of the August House was criticized by the Uganda Medical Association in a press conference whose members insist that there is no cure to the ailment.

On Monday, 16th March 2020, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the Speaker met up with a Prof Sarfaraz Khan Niazi a biopharmaceutical manufacturing expert. Prof Niazi who claims to have created a spray that instantly kills the Coronavirus teamed up with a Ugandan Biochemist, Mathias Magoola to produce this product at the DEI group in Luzira.

According to reports from Speaker Kadaga, Prof Niazi has donated the patent for this spray to Uganda.

The news of his “discovery” and partnership with Uganda was shared on the floor of Parliament and on social media by the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga.

However, on Wednesday, the Uganda Medical Association held a press conference in reaction to this revelation by the Speaker. The Association insisted that there is no medicine or vaccine to prevent COVID-19 infection.

“The SARS COVID-19 is a new strain of coronaviruses which was only discovered to cause human disease less than 3 months ago in Wuhan, China. To date, there is no single medicine that can cure this disease or a vaccine that can prevent it”, Richard Idro the Chairperson of the Uganda Medical Association says.

Idro further mentions that this “untested” spray maybe dangerous to society as it is not tested by a competent institution mandated to regulate medicines. The Medical association added that this gives false hope and could be dangerous.

“It diverts the population from known and effective preventive messages,” the UMA Chairperson says.

The association further warned the country’s leadership against dealing with individuals like Prof Niazi.

“We express particular displeasure against the quack kind of scientists who desire to misinform the leadership of our country. From what we understand, whatever was purported to be a treatment is actually a disinfectant meant for external body use,” says the UMA boss.

The Speaker of Parliament has informed the Uganda Medical Association that she takes issue with them for resorting to a press conference instead of a courtesy call and sharing their opinions.

“I’ve assured MPs that I don't deal with quacks as is being alleged through Social media and leaders of Uganda Medical Association,” the Speaker’s response reads.

The Speaker further added, on top of sharing the successes of both Prof Niazi and Mathias Magoola, that her interest in the matter is Uganda’s local capacity to produce her own drugs instead of endlessly importing from other countries.

The coronavirus continues to threaten the livelihoods of people around the world. Today upto 182,350 cases of COVID-19 in 157 countries have been confirmed. Of these, 7,157 people have been confirmed dead while 79,529 have recovered. Already, cases have been reported in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and the DRC.

The health ministry insists that there is no confirmed case in Uganda yet.