By Daniel Tumwine
Thanks for your good work and i always admire and follow yo analysis on social media.
KAMPALA-UGANDA: Personally i tested +ve on 17th sept for COVID after Xperiencing loss of sense of smell, lack of taste for food and a cracking throat for almost 5days, i cldnt feel anything i wld try to eat even i wldnt feel the effect of cutting and eating a raw onion.
i went to CASE HOSP for malaria check up and the malaria test was -ve, given sm tabs and went back home.
After 3days, the situation wasnt getting any better, so i went back to CASE Hosp thats when the Dr told me to go to Mulago public lab and do a COVID test,…you wld hv seen the way i looked at him😂, i gathered my self to mulago lab only to find a long line and was told to try MUK UNIVERSITY HOSP.
They took ma swab thru the nose and was told to pick the result on 18th sep. Which i did and i was +ve.
i panicked and i immediately reached out to Mrs Amanda Ngabirano thru her inbox, yet i never met her but i had seen her sharing the COVID Xperience on her fb page but Ugandans were abusing her smtym back.
Bambi she replied back and she told me to calm down go pick vitamin C and Zinc tabs the rest will be provided at Hospital🙏
The following morning of 19th sep i received a call from Min. of Health team one Ayebare, telling me to direct them where i stay so they can pick me.
i told him “you people pick COVID Patients as if they are criminals plz direct me where to report since i even took my self for testing”.
Good enough he agreed and advised since am in Najjera, Nambole Stadium wld be near.
i packed my bags and drove ma self to Nambole stadium, but when i reached Nambole at around 6pm, my self and the car were sprayed like cockraches 😂, on the receiving desk the nurse on duty was so welkaming and she asked if i had any other problem apart from COVID,
Thats when i told her am hypertensive and i had actually carried my Loscah and Nubulet tabs along.
she told me since am hypertensive Min of Health cant admit me in Nambole but rather am supposed to be admitted to Mulago.
Meanwhile ambulances were bringing in more patients one after the other, she asked me to check my self to mulago since i had even brought my self to Nambole.
i did check to Mulago at around 7:30pm since jam was too much.
Checked in to Mulago and sprayed again and assuerd me that my car will be very safe for the tym i will be in there.
a very welkaming team at the receiving desks still, with 10min my admission file was ready, given a freshly ironed pair of bedsheets🙏 and now almost 8pm the nurse embarks on searching for space!
DR. i know u are very familiar with Mulago but let me tell u Block A & B , levels 1- 5 are all full of COVID patients, probably this is what most Ugandans dont know.
i moved with the nurse shivering after the cold spray and its night time on all these levels, till she found me a bed on level 3 block A
…am forever greatfull to that Nurse i cldnt pick her name since she was putting on PPE!
i settled to my bed and by 10pm, 2 Doctors came to my bed asked me hw i feel and they took my temp and BP reading but a very friendly and professional manner i must admit.
was given sm Zathrin pack of tabs, in addition to my zinc and Vitamin c tins i had picked and they advised me since am asymptomatic, they wont be subjecting me to any other drug for now but they wld keep monitoring my BP as i do morning exercises nd eat lots of fruits and take more lemon and Garlic daily.
They wld provide us with good meals and water boiler in the ward is running 24hrs so hot water is accessible all the tym.
My Xperience with the High Dependency Unit on each level (HDU) unit was terrible.
for the 2weeks i spent there i wld peep into that HDU unit which has around 15beds, and they are all on life supporting machines and they are fighting for their lives and its a picture i wld see on TV in some of those outside Countries.
and Doctors told us those are mostly patients that came in when the virus had gone into their lungs and are having difficulties in breathing and sm hv COVID and at the same tym other diseases like Diabetes, Synoses, Athima, and old age.
such category are great affected by COVID!
The professionalism of the Doctors in the COVID wards is exceptional those young men and ladies are working and committed, as early as 3:30am they are in the ward checking on each and every body.
and those in HDU unit you wld see them assisting patients who cant help themselves to the toilets and they wld do it without despire🙏 and whenever a patient from HDU wld stablize , he or she wld brought to either male r female wards and for the 2weeks i spent there, i witnessed 2 patients who passed on bambi and the mortuary guys wld come in the morning spray the room where they are put at the entrance of the wards before taking them away.
May their souls rest in peace.
Our ward was full of all cartogolies of people…Bankers, factory workers, NGO workers and people mainly from Eastern Uganda.
I remember one nyt i watched 9 Ambulances offloading patients and yet i wld see people on social media saying we dont hv COVID
and thru the window i wld see people walking without their masks and i even feel like shouting at them to go back and put them on😂
after 12 days, they took my swab thru the throat and the results came back when i was -ve🙏 and was discharged on the 30th
its sad that no one can be by your side during this tym, i even saw 2 children of abt 10~11yrs and their story is heartbreaking but thank God they were discharged too.
As we interacted with the Doctors i discovered they are Miltary Doctors and their so professional and they actually shared a scret to us that…
its true sm VACCINE is already being developed here in Uganda and them the Miltary Doctors manning the COVID unit hv been tried on them so its true.
And there is also plasma that is given to patients who come in bad shape and helps them boost ther Antibodies and helps them stablize in a short period of time.
Despite the challenges and failures faced by Govt in so many areas, i personally credit the efforts it has put to COVID treatment.
COVID IS REAL its unfortunate Min of Health cant allow the public to vist COVID unit thats why most Ugandans are taking it as a joke!
Plz u can share my Xperience but plz hide my identity.]
