Odonga Otto out of danger, says doctor

MP Otto attended to by his sister yesterday. PHOTO BY A. WESAKA

What you need to know:

The legislator lost consciousness while travelling on Friday evening and rumours were rife that he had been poisoned but he is now ready to go home.

Kampala

Aruu County MP Odonga Otto, who was airlifted to Mulago Hospital and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit after he lost consciousness on Friday, is out of danger, his doctor has said.

Dr Amos Deogratuis Mwaka ruled out food poisoning as earlier speculated. Instead, he said the MP suffered law salt levels in the body. “He did not have signs of food poisoning. Even Lacor Hospital did not document that but his condition is that of electrolytes, (low levels of sodium in the body),” said Dr Mwaka

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, describes the condition as disturbance in which the sodium concentration in the blood is lower than normal. “In the vast majority of cases, hyponatremia occurs as a result of excess body water diluting the blood sodium and is not due to sodium deficiency,” Wikipedia says.

The MP was on a constituency visit when he lost consciousness on the road between Pader (his district) and Gulu. He was rushed to Lacor Hospital where heart complications were investigated before he was referred to Mulago Heart Institute. His doctor said the legislator is responding well to treatment and will be discharged soon. “We are excited that he is responding positively to treatment and he is going home anytime as he is completely out of danger,” Dr Mwaka said.

When Daily Monitor visited the MP at Mulago Hospital in Private Wing Room 6C yesterday, he appeared relatively fine though weak. He promised to watch the Premiership match between Manchester United and Arsenal. “I think I am fine and I want to go home and watch Manchester United beating Arsenal,” the opposition legislator joked.