Beating Covid: ‘I was rebuked by a medic for not following SOPs’

In  this series ‘Beating Covid’, we trace victims who caught the virus and overcame it.  NTV Uganda journalist Okoodi Rubabira Abooki,  had no idea that a colleague whom he asked for video clips of what he had missed during the campaign trail, would infect him with Covid-19 until he developed severe symptoms. He opens up to  Rajab Mukombozi.

“My name is Okoodi Rubabira Abooki, a journalist working with NTV, attached to the Mbarara bureau and covering the western region. 

I contracted Covid-19 during the General Elections 2020/2021. I believe I contracted the virus from a fellow journalist as we tracked different candidates looking for news.

I had just finished covering one of the presidential candidates in Mbarara  and  had to go to another function where a Member of Parliament aspirant for Mbarara City North was launching his manifesto. 

However, I could not co-currently cover all the events as they happened. So after the presidential candidate’s campaign, I went to the other function and asked a colleague to help with some video clips of what I had missed. During this period, we interacted freely; our masks were on our chins.

At some point, the journalist told me she had difficulty in breathing. I asked whether she had consulted any doctor over her condition and she replied no. I advised her to go for the test. We later parted ways but on the third day after our meeting, I had an itchy throat. I thought it was flu and bought some tablets.

Because I am a cautious person, when I reached home that evening, I jokingly told my family to stay away from me because I might have contracted Covid-19. 

They got scared, including my wife. We didn’t stay in the same room; I slept in the sitting room that night.

The next day some journalists and I went on the campaign trail in Rukungiri but I was not feeling well. 

I advised the journalists that we buy drugs to treat Covid-19 early. We went to one of the pharmacies in Rukungiri Town and bought Zinc sulphate, Vitamin C,  Azithromycin and Dexamethasone.

I started taking these drugs in addition to a mixture of ginger, lemon, and garlic as I developed more Covid-19 symptoms including a sore throat, headache and tiredness.

On the fourth day, I developed a dry cough and was later advised by colleagues to also add steaming onto the routine and drugs I was already taking. The situation got worse on the sixth day when I developed a terrible fever. On the eighth day I developed diarrhoea and lost appetite.

Being rebuked
On November 22, 2020, I became suspicious that I had Covid-19. I called a friend who is a medical worker at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH). 

When he got to my home, instead of sympathising with me, he rebuked me for being irresponsible and acting like an uninformed person. 

He asked how as a journalist, I could fall sick at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, get clear symptoms and fail to go to a medical facility for a check-up. 

He inquired about the medication I was taking. He explained I was taking the drugs wrongly. For instance, I was taking five tablets of Vitamic C two times a day, instead of two tablets three times a day.

The disappointed medical worker then called a colleague at Mbarara hospital and booked an appointment for me to be tested. 

That night the fever was so bad that I had to ask for a charcoal stove to be lit and I slept beside it so as to get some warmth.
The next day I was taken to Mbarara hospital where they started interrogating me over the symptoms I had experienced. 

The health workers asked if I had experienced a fever, sore throat, chest pain, headache, general pain, tiredness, cough, and diarrhoea. I answered yes to most of the questions. Of all the symptoms, it was only vomiting and loss of taste and smell that I had not experienced.

A blood sample and a swab from the nose were taken and I was told not to leave the hospital. I remained there until 4pm. At that point I became nervous and sent my nephew to inquire if the results were ready. He checked and told me that I had tested positive for Covid-19.

I could not believe him. I don’t know where tears came from, but I found myself crying. 

I started thinking of many things; my family, and my sickly and aging mum. But later I consoled myself that my nephew was probably lying, so I waited for official communication from the doctors.

As thoughts on my next course of action lingered on my mind, Dr Rose Muhindo, the officer in-charge of handling and managing Covid-19 patients at Mbarara hospital, came to the vehicle where I had been resting for the better part of the day. 
I saw her walking very fast towards  me before she delivered the unfortunate news.

She asked me to follow her but I questioned her about where we were heading to. She then told me that to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

I was Covid-19 positive and an admission case.

Paralysing shock
I went silent for about 30 seconds. Dr Muhindo almost pulled me out of the vehicle before I kindly asked her to allow me go home and get some personal effects. 

Revealing the results to my family members was a challenge as almost everyone cried upon hearing the unfortunate news.
 After getting some of my personal effects, I was taken to the ICU where I found three other patients.

As I entered the room, I could hear the sound of the machines plugged onto them. It was terrifying. I felt like these were my last moments alive. I was put on a ventilator and oxygen. I had also been asked by doctors to bring the drugs that I had previously been using to treat myself at home and was allowed to continue using most of them. What changed was the dosage.

The next day I composed myself and started informing people about my situation including my immediate supervisor at work, Mr Williams Kato who comforted me saying that I would make it. When friends and relatives learnt of my situation, they started sending me assistance including treatment.

Back home in Fort Portal, a clan platform organised and sent me honey and propolis. At the hospital, I was also taken through breathing, walking, and sleeping exercises.

On the third day the results came out and showed that I was Covid-19 negative. I think I had been admitted because of the symptoms I had exhibited. The samples taken from me had been taken to Entebbe while I remained admitted to manage the symptoms.

Three days later, the results from Entebbe returned negative. This was disturbing and I almost started quarrelling with doctors, blaming them for exposing me to Covid-19 in the ICU yet I was negative. I asked them if they hadn’t done me a disservice. 

But the doctors explained that I tested negative because I had started treating myself and by the time of testing I had suppressed the virus. I still remained troubled because of the amount of time I had spent in ICU.

I thought I could have been re-infected. At the time I was admitted to the ICU, my family was also tested. Four family members including my wife, son, sister and mother tested positive. But they were treated at home.

The cost of treatment and care was expensive owing to the number of people I had infected at home. I had to buy drugs, fruits and other food stuffs for myself and family members. But friends and relatives supported me. 

A fellow journalist through a Whatsapp group raised over Shs350,000 for me. In total, I used more than Shs3.5 million.
On the fifth day of my admission, the number of ICU patients  went high and getting them beds became a challenge. I was therefore told I would be taken to the emergency ward, something I protested. 

I wondered why I was being kept in the hospital and being exposed yet I had tested negative. I had reached the recovery stage. I told them they should instead let me go. They agreed and discharged me.    

Testing positive again  
A day after being discharged, I received a call from State House asking me to go and take a Covid-19 test because I was part of the team that was going to cover President Museveni’s campaigns in the western region. I took the test but on the very day I was meant to go and cover the President, I was told I had tested positive.

The results worried me again. How come I had tested negative a week before this test and I was now positive? I thought I had been re-infected either at the hospital or by people at home. I had to go through another phase of isolation.

Later, I faced a lot of stigma as it took  me close to three months to be completely accepted by my colleagues. 
My workmates  isolated me for fear of getting infected. Even when I had recovered, they could not freely mix with me. I would call a colleague and agree to meet or go to the field with them but on reaching the  meeting place, they would be no where. 

Others started telling news sources not to work with “that NTV guy because he has Covid-19”. 

It was a big challenge, especially, because I had many sick people at home who were not  working. But I thank God that some colleagues and relatives mobilised support to see me through this.

Admission to ICU
As I entered the room, I could hear the sound of the machines plugged onto them. It was terrifying. I felt like these were my last moments alive.

I was put on a ventilator and oxygen. I had also been asked by doctors to bring the drugs that I had previously been using to treat myself at home and was allowed to continue using most of them. What changed was the dosage.