On Monday Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia State Governor has given reasons he was treated in Abuja while battling COVID-19.
Gov. Ikpeazu, while responding to questions during a zoom interactive session with newsmen, said he found out when he arrived Abuja that he was positive for the virus.
The Governor further explained that his first test while in Abia State was negative, adding that it was conducted in an NCDC facility in another state because Abia State has no testing center.
“I started having symptoms of something that looks to me like malaria fever in the evening and then some slight headache.
“So my physician who is an Abian, gave me Lonart antimalarial and I had that for 3 days and after the third day the symptoms persisted and he now changed the course of treatment to Emal. He gave me shots of Emal and later Fansidar.
“Meanwhile, as that was going on, he administered Covid-19 tests on me and at that moment we were taking our samples to Irrua in Edo State. The samples returned to indicate that I was negative for COVID-19. So I continued to treat malaria, I took malaria tests and they said I had Residual One Plus or something like that.
“But after taking Fansidar, I couldn’t make urine again and that gave me a shock because I am a Biochemist and I understand the implications of not being able to move my waste through urine. So, we assembled 4 doctors from around Abia here who came to look at me and they recommended that I begin treatment at a hospital in Abia known as Mecure.
“I went there and had my first run of dialysis, as they diagnosed, I also did 3 scans and they looked at my organs. While they were working on these, my ill health was deteriorating and therefore I started to seek further opinion of other doctors elsewhere. And in embarking on that journey, I went with 3 doctors from Abia and a 4th joined us in Abuja.
“Since we had already eliminated the possibility of Covid-19 infection based on the result from the test centre in Edo State, my sojourn to Abuja was in further diagnosis of what the situation could be.
“It was while I was in Abuja that the Covid-19 test was conducted again, and when it came out positive that time round, we felt it was advisable to start treatment there immediately considering the deteriorating state of my health instead of us wasting the time to return to Abia.
“Unknown to the people around Nigeria, the Amachara Medical Centre has achieved more than 98% success in the treatment of COVID-19.”
He, therefore, appreciated medical personnel and expressed joy that the state owned isolation and treatment facility in Abia State Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Center, Amachara, has continued to maintain one of the best survival rates in Nigeria.
Currently, Abia State has 644 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and so far 523 patients have been successfully discharged.
