SURVIVING COVID-19: FACING DEATH IN ISOLATION
Three weeks ago, Grey (prefers we use his nickname) attended a workshop in Gaborone.
A day before he was due to travel back to Maun, the 28-year-old realised he was lacking in energy and showing the first signs of flu.
He visited a clinic in Sebele where he was given tablets for his flu and advised to visit Block 8 clinic in Gaborone ‘when he finds time’ to test for Coronavirus.
“But it was already late as I was scheduled to travel back to Maun the following morning. I was using public transport, a bus, and I had to report to work the following morning, Monday 26th January,” Grey explained.
Despite taking the medication, he did not get any better. He felt feverish but convinced himself it was just the effects of flu.
“I arrived in Maun Sunday evening and the following morning I went to work. However, when I knocked off, I felt very weak, suddenly dizzy and the fever had gone high. I hired a taxi to take me directly home.”
By 10 that night, Grey felt the need to seek medical attention as he was getting weaker and struggling with labored breathing.
He was driven to Letsholathebe Hospital where he took a rapid Covid-19 test that confirmed his worst fears.
Another test was done, but this time samples were taken to the laboratory, meaning he had to wait days before the results could be confirmed.
“I was given tablets for the fever and told to go back home because the hospital was apparently overwhelmed with cases and had no extra bed to offer me. Even outside the hospital there was no available space for quarantine,” narrated Grey, adding he took the taxi back home, where he stays with a friend.
The following morning, he went back to the hospital requesting to be placed in quarantine as he could not self-isolate at home. Once again, he was told there was no alternative accommodation for him.
“I had to call the Minister of Health’s office for me to be assisted. At the end of the day I was offered a room at a local guest house to stay in for the next ten days,” he added.
It was the beginning of a nightmare for Grey.
“The first three nights were the worst due to the fever. Not once was I given any medical assistance when I was in this isolation room. Mind you, I am hypertensive and no one cared to check on me, not even for the vital signs. I was left in there alone for all the ten days. ”
Grey is convinced he would not have survived the ordeal if it had not been for his kindhearted taxi driver, who collected his high blood pressure pills from a local clinic.
“I would call the taxi-man and send him to buy me stuff, such as lemon, ginger so I can steam my body. That helped me a lot. When my pills finished, I called the hospital in vain so I once again asked the taxi-man to go to the clinic to ask for the refill. I had to explain to the nurse via the phone the kind of tablets I was taking because they did not have my medical card.”
Grey maintains the guesthouse staff gave him good food and bedding, but the hospital failed to provide him with basic health care.
“They only came back on day ten with the results which were also positive and they extended my quarantine by an extra four days. I was told that after four days, I have to find my way to Matshwane Clinic for further tests.”
Two weeks after he was admitted, Grey wearily emerged from his room, dazzled by the sunlight as he gingerly made his way to the roadside.
“It was then that I realised how weak I was. My lungs were on fire and I could only walk a short distance before gasping for air!”
At the clinic, Grey took another rapid test and, to his relief, this time he tested negative.
He was immediately told to go back home. The next day he returned to Gaborone where he is now working.
“I am still not fully recovered and I have to take Halls sweets as they give my lungs a deep breath of cool air. The menthol is really doing the trick.”
Grey insists that he does not know how or where he got infected.
“All I know is that I attended a workshop in Gaborone and I have been informed that all participants of the same workshop have since tested positive for Covid-19. Where I was working in Maun, I spent a day with a colleague in a workshop and he also had tested positive. Further, before going to Maun, I was staying with my baby mama and the child, and following my results, they took tests and both tested positive, so really, I don’t know where I got it.
“But what I can say is that Covid-19 is not a joke, it kills the lungs and the health system is completely clueless. You face death alone and it is only up to the ailing individual to keep fighting for survival.”
Grey’s contention is that even the health staff are seemingly helpless.
“They seem not to care, it’s like they have decided that if you die, you die and if you are lucky you’ll live.”
As Coronavirus continues to test the strength and expose the fragility of our country’s health systems, Grey is one of the lucky ones to survive a scourge which has so far killed over two million people worldwide, including 226 in Botswana.
Amid the hysteria, it should not be forgotten that most who contract Covid-19 fully recover. Globally, over 61 million people have recovered, with Botswana accounting for 21,893 of those recoveries.
Meanwhile, in the month of January, North West District noticed an increase in Covid-19 cases. The area registered 483 cases, with Maun, Shakawe and Gumare the hardest hit.
According to Ngami District Management Team, the district was holding 1,347 people in quarantine during January.
As the numbers keep rising, Matshwane Clinic, which was initially used as an isolation center, has now been transformed into a testing centre. The isolation centre has been moved to Botswana Wildlife Training Institute, which has a bigger bed capacity of 60.