#Uganda Christian Universty Archives - Uganda Christian University Partners

(NOTE: On November 25, 2020, the Ugandan Ministry of Health confirmed 11,767 cases of COVID-19 and 106 deaths. This is the story of one of the infected persons who survived.)

By Robby Muhumuza

UCU Senior Teaching Fellow Robby Muhumuza

“Do you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who has Corona?”

The above refrain trending on social media a few months ago sounded funny. My family members and I laughed at it. That laugh now has dried off my lips.

In November 2020, I know scores of people who have been infected by COVID-19. I have a list of those who recently died of COVID-19. Others are on ventilators in critical condition. My wife and I recently became part of the COVID-19 statistics when both of us tested positive for the corona virus.

We didn’t have any of the classic symptoms. Our body temperatures were normal. No coughs, no headaches but slight sore throats. We were prompted to test because we had been in close contact with people who tested positive for COVID-19. There are many places for testing in Kampala with charges ranging from UGX 200,000 to 350,000 UGX ($54 to $94). We opted for Makerere University Hospital, where we were charged UGX 200,000 and got our results the following day.

As soon as the medical officer at Makerere University Hospital saw “Positive “ on our results slips, she adjusted her mask more firmly on her face and told us to keep a minimum of 2 meters (6 feet) from her.

“Mulago Hospital is full. Entebbe Grade B also is full,” she said. “The only place we can have you admitted for 14 days is at the temporary medical facility recently set up at Namboole Stadium.”

“What are the facilities available at Namboole?” I asked.

“Not much really,” she confessed. “We mostly have medical staff who will monitor you regularly and give you treatment if you need it. You will not be allowed any visitors. Your family can bring you stuff but they will have to leave it at the gate. But if you have a place where you can self-isolate, here is a prescription. Go buy the drugs from a pharmacy and take another test after 10 days.”

The prescription consisted of: Azithromycin (antibiotic mostly to treat chest infections), 500 mg (1 tablet per day for 6 days); Zinc 20 mg (1 tablet per day for 5 days); Vitamin C 500 mg (1 tablet twice a day for 5 days).

When I checked with a senior doctor friend of mine, he gave a similar prescription and then added the following: “Don’t be scared. Take a balanced diet. Have enough sleep. Do exercises every day. Drink plenty of water. Sit in the morning sun 15-20 minutes per day.”

After buying the prescriptions, my wife and I went into isolation for the next 10 days.

As we shared our condition with friends via WhatsApp and phone calls, we received more advice on how to reinforce our immunity. We were encouraged to take lots of green tea boiled with fresh-pounded garlic, ginger, lemon or lime and some honey added. We shared with our pastor and some friends for prayers.

Concerned that we could have infected some of our closest contacts, we sent our children, grandchildren, driver and workers at our home for COVID-19 tests. Thanks be to God, they all tested negative.

Full-fledged COVID-19 usually attacks and weakens the lungs. That’s why critically ill COVID-19 patients with breathing difficulties need ventilators (now in short supply in Ugandan hospitals). It’s therefore necessary to monitor the oxygen intake in the blood of COVID-19 patients so that medical personnel can provide the necessary intervention in time. We were advised to buy a battery-operated, hand-held oximeter for measuring the pulse and the amount of oxygen in the blood. We sent for one from First Pharmacy at 95,000 UGX (about $25). My wife and I followed the recommended regimen religiously to the dot. Thanks be to God that we had not developed any serious symptoms of COVID-19.

We eagerly counted each day looking forward to the 10th day to carry out another COVID-19 test. Day 10 came and the swab was taken from our nostrils. I have taken many tests and exams in my life. Waiting for results of a COVID-19 test is nerve-wrecking.

The following day, the email from the Ministry of Health Uganda Virus Research Institute Lab Manager came on my phone. My fingers were shaking and sweating as I opened the email. “ NEGATIVE” was stamped in green on the result slip for both my wife and me. We shouted in excitement and hugged each other. It was as if a death sentence had been lifted from our necks.

We wondered if the first test was accurate. We wondered about the treatment as we had no symptoms. We wondered if the expense was worth it. At that, we are grateful as we pray for the families and friends around us who are not so fortunate.

The list of names of people dying of COVID19 in Uganda is increasingly being shared in hushed tones on phones and in-boxes of WhatsApp messages. A number of friends are in-boxing me, telling me that they tested positive for COVID-19, and they are quietly taking medication. Others are telling me about relatives and neighbors who recently died of COVID-19, but nobody wants to talk about it openly because of the fear of stigma.

CONCLUSION: COVID19 is real. We are at the stage where there are many infected people in the community busy transmitting it. Be careful. Avoid mingling in crowds. Go out only if you must. When you are with others who are not your family members, wear a mask, keep a social distance of around 2 meters apart, and wash your hands frequently with water and soap. If you feel symptoms of COVID-19 or one of the people you have been in close contact tests positive, go for a COVID-19 test. If you test positive, that’s not a death sentence. Follow the treatment regimen. You will thank me later.

+++++++

Robby Muhumuza is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Uganda Christian University Faculty of Journalism, Media and Communication.

++++

To support Uganda Christian University programs, students, activities and services, go to www.ugandapartners.org and click on the “donate” button, or contact UCU Partners Executive Director, Mark Bartels, at m.t.bartels@ugandapartners.org

Margaret Ekel, founder and director of Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Mid-wifery in Apac, northern Uganda

By Douglas Olum

While growing up in a northern Uganda village in the 1960s, Margaret Ekel admired nursing assistants who occasionally visited to interact with the people, including her parents, Tezira and Jeremiah Okot. As a young girl, she dreamed of becoming one of these smartly dressed, well-spoken medical people.

In 1968, after learning letter writing in her primary six classes, Ekel, then age 11, used that skill to begin applying to the Lira Mid-wifery Training School, seeking admission to the nursing program. Ekel overstated her age as 14. Unfortunately, because she lacked the minimum academic qualification for admission, she received a denial response with the word “regret.” As Ekel narrated this childhood memory in 2019, she could not help but smile.

“I didn’t understand the word ‘regret’,” she said, laughing.

To Ekel, that rejection was mere postponement of her admission. Her target was to get the ordinary level certificate, which she obtained in 1973. With that in hand, she applied for the nursing course while one of her brothers submitted documents on her behalf for the Laboratory Assistant program. She was admitted for both, but dropped the Laboratory Assistant offer.

After enrolling in the Masaka Nursing and Mid-wifery Training School in central Uganda, Ekel encountered challenges with the practical side of learning, including the administration of injections to patients. Giving a shot was terrifying as was dealing with death. When patients died, she hid inside a small room until the body was wrapped and taken away.

“Whenever I would lose a patient, I would cry with the relatives instead of simply empathizing with them as the profession requires,” she said. “I kept wondering why my fellow nurses would not drop a tear.”

With the help of tutors and colleagues, Ekel overcame these professional obstacles. With a midwifery certificate, she pursued a diploma in Nursing from Mulago School of Nursing and Mid-wifery before taking on a tutorship training course.

Realizing the gaps in the Uganda’s health sector, Ekel, who had worked in Government Hospitals, including at Nebbi Hospital in the West Nile region, knew that she could not do that single handedly. She opted for an early retirement from Government service as a nurse to pursue further studies so that she could influence the change she desires through imparting the knowledge and skills for a younger generation to close those gaps. So she decided to establish a school of nursing to train more Ugandans at certificate level in Apac District, Northern Uganda shortly after graduating from UCU.

Margaret Ekel at graduation from UCU in March 2014. She received her Bachelor of Nursing Science degree before enrolling for a Masters in the same field.

Ekel received a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree from the Uganda Christian University (UCU) in March 2014.

“My training in UCU opened my eyes to see the profession from a different perspective,” she said. “I was taken through the details of essentials like nursing care and nursing problems – which deals with how nurses can connect emotionally with their patients, listen to them and discover problems that could delay their healing processes.”

A mother of five boys and a girl, Ekel, who is currently a student in the Master of Nursing Science program at UCU, is founder and director of Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Mid-wifery in Apac, northern Uganda. The school runs alongside a sister hospital, Nightingale Hospital, Apac.

Through her school and hospital, Ekel hopes to restore patients’ hopes in the nursing profession by restoring what she considers the lost image of the profession. Administratively, Ekel says her time at UCU has made her a leader with a difference because through the various fellowships and prayer sessions, she learned that it was important to involve God in everything.

“Seeing the Vice Chancellor go to eat with students at the DH (Dining Hall) taught me key leadership skills like paying attention to the people you lead, listening to them and being humble all the time,” Ekel said.

In August 2018, Ekel suddenly collapsed while she was interacting with visitors from Gulu Regional Blood Bank who had checked into her school. She was rushed to Nightingale Hospital in Apac, where she was resuscitated before being referred to Nakasero Hospital for CT Scan and Naguru Hospital for a surgical procedure. Investigations revealed that she had cerebral thrombosis, a blood clot condition in the brain, which meant the vein that supplies oxygen to her brain was blocked and she needed to stay away from stressful and physically hectic duties. The condition is normally permanent in patients, which meant she had to drop out of her masters program which she painfully did.

But to her surprise, about a year later, a doctor told Ekel that her condition had normalized. She remembers asking the doctor what could have healed her, to which the doctor reportedly responded: “Somehow God has planted a new vein to supply your brain.”

In April 2020, she was considering a return to complete her course with mostly individual research remaining.

Because of that miraculous healing, Ekel believes that: “When you are with Christ, it is different than when you are with the world.”

+++

Tag Archives: #Uganda Christian Universty

Don’t joke with COVID. It’s real

Apac, Uganda, nursing school director credits UCU for her impact