"They Don’t Work" - COVID-19 Survivor On Remedies

Shingai Rukwata Ndoro, a COVID-19 survivor has said herbals such as Zumbani / Umsuzwane/Lippia Javanica which many Zimbabweans have been using as a remedy for COVID-19 do not work. Zumbani and other traditional herbs became popular recently as some said it can treat coronavirus. Below is Shingai’s statement.

Today it’s my 6th day at home recuperating very well after a discharge from hospital following staring death in the eye and escaping from it.

I survived Covid-19 and here is my story for awareness.

On the night of December 22, 2020, I had a fever and a sore throat.

The following day in the morning,  I had a test for Covid-19 and it was confirmed that I was positive.

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Since I had mild symptoms consisting of a mild cough, the doctor whom I consulted prescribed the necessary medication but this doctor failed to tell me a simple message: “If this cough persists beyond four days, please seek medical attention.” (I later contacted him about this and he has been very contrite about what he did not do.)

The lack of this information or advice for me was to be near fatal for me.

I did lots of home remedies of steaming, zumbani, garlic, etc trying to heal. I can tell you that those things don’t work. But they aren’t harmful but will give you a false sense of security when your situation is fast deteriorating.

I had a cough and a headache for 11 days until a friend visited me at home where I was isolating. He asked me to buy a pulse oximeter and it was noticed that my oxygen saturation wasn’t enough. Panic!

I was attended to by another private doctor at home and then put on an oxygen concentrator at home for two days (December 30-31) with no meaningful change. It was him who made the prudent decision that I’d better be hospitalised. The following day on New Year’s Day I was hospitalised in Harare at a private facility. I was taken first into the High Dependency Unit, and then Intensive Care Unit as the situation got worse.

I was put on life support for the severest stage of this disease and I was being treated of its worst form: Covid-19 pneumonia while I had an underlying condition as a Type 2 diabetic. You can imagine the double trouble. My lungs were now in their worst! My oxygen saturation was not improving.

In all this, as a patient you are by yourself with the medical team. No visitors allowed.

For a total of 32 days I was fighting this disease and for 22 days I was hospitalised.

Although I have since lost 12kg that some of you who know me physically may fail to easily recognise me, my life was not lost. It was too close to death!

I can’t thank my friend, the private doctor and the medical team enough. It was very tough for me, but I’m thrilled to be alive.

To you all my family members, relatives and friends, your messages to me while I was in hospital gave me hope, courage and strength to live and fight the disease.

The will to live or that positive urge to stay alive is a wonder! I SURVIVED the worst of Covid-19!!!

More: The Independent