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Ruwa COVID-19 Patient Expose The Government’s Poorly Coordinated Testing System & Its Neglect Of Confirmed Cases

3 years agoMon, 06 Apr 2020 13:01:28 GMT
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Ruwa COVID-19 Patient Expose The Government’s Poorly Coordinated Testing System & Its Neglect Of Confirmed Cases

A 52-year-old man who tested positive for COVID-19 after visiting the Middle East spoke to The Standard and gave a testimony that shed light on the government’s preparedness to test and probably treat COVID-19.

Saul Sakudya, who runs a small electrical accessories’ joint said he travelled to Dubai on 15 March and returned 3 days later and self quarantined himself after he developed COVID-19 symptoms.

Sakudya said:

On Friday, my situation became worse, and at midnight, I started having a terribly dry cough, feeling dizzy, severe headache, loss of appetite, throat irritation and a severe backache, but I wasn’t sneezing.

Monday morning, I decided to go for Covid-19 testing at Wilkins Hospital. My 21-year-old son drove me to the infectious diseases hospital. It was around 2pm. I was there when Zororo Makamba died. I was told that my results would come out in five hours and if they didn’t, it would mean that I had tested negative.

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I went back home to wait for my results. Five hours passed and no results came.Imagine, [they availed the results] after 72 hours. What if I had interacted with many people thinking that I was negative? I was asked to go to Wilkins for isolation. My son was still driving me. We went to Wilkins and were told the hospital was closing down for renovations.

We were referred to the Beatrice Road Infectious Disease Hospital. At Beatrice, we were told to go back to Wilkins. They said they were not ready to handle a coronavirus case. We went back to Wilkins, but they refused to take us, this time referring us to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals

(He called Prosper Chonzi, the head of health services at the Harare City Council. Chonzi reportedly advised him to go home so that an ambulance would ferry him to an isolation centre the next day. As promised by Chonzi, an ambulance was despatched to pick him up)

They took me to Beatrice Hospital. There was chaos at the hospital with panicky nurses fleeing the hospital, complaining that they had no protective clothing to handle a Covid-19 patient.

I was finally admitted and doctors immediately came. I was injected and given antibiotics. The following day [Friday], I told them I wanted to be isolated at home because I needed warm water continuously. It was saddening that results came after announcements were made and were already circulating on social media. That is not good,

Speaking about his life after testing positive and being in quarantine Sakudya said:

We are using one bathroom. We have devised a way that those who tested negative will bathe first, and those that are positive later, but we have to make sure we clean the bathroom thoroughly. It is not walking the talk.

I was quarantined on March 24 and up to now, no one from the Ministry of Health or any government department has been here to see me, or provide food. It is now about 14 days to go for the national lockdown to be complete, I am not supposed to go out, but my government is not worried about how I am surviving. What is the social welfare department doing if it can’t help the vulnerable?

I jog in my yard, listen to music and watch films. Sometimes I sleep for two hours. I am taking antibiotics and hot water with lemons. Sometimes I sleep for about two hours during the day. Those negative of the coronavirus will have their own world in the main house.

I felt my world was crumbling, like I was in a restriction cell where no lullaby could soothe the seething mass of despair, but am glad I am a new narrative of hope.

More: The Standard

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