Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu has given reason his COVID-19 case was managed in Abuja and not in Abia despite the fact that the state
government is priding itself as having established the best centres for the management of the coronavirus in this part of the country.
Speaking while responding to a question during a zoom enabled online
interactive session with a cross section of Abia born journalists under the platform of Abia Media Forum, Ikpeazu said it was not until he arrived Abuja to seek further answers on his ailment that a second COVID-19 test was conducted and the result returned positive.
He explained that his initial test while in Abia State that returned negative result was conducted in an NCDC facility in another state as Abia state was still putting together its own laboratories at the time.
“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 (an) antimalarial drug and I had that for three days and after the third day the symptoms persisted and he now
changed the course of treatment”.
The governor said he didn’t go to Abuja as a COVID-19 patient as the tests conducted on him while in Abia returned negative, adding that he
went to the nation’s capital for proper medical attention when he could not pass urine well.
“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, 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”.
Restating that Abia has one of the best COVID-19 management centres,
the governor said, “Unknown to the people around Nigeria, the Amachara
Medical Centre has achieved more than 98 percent success in the
treatment of COVID-19”.
He expressed appreciation to the medics that managed his case in Abuja
as well as those managing the patients in Abia state 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.
Investigations revealed that Abia state has so far recorded 644 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 523 patients successfully discharged, as at Saturday, making a 99.9 percent survival rate.