Newsfront Online …Telling the Public as it is
… Thanks Gov Udom, Advises all to Observe Precautionary Measures
… Commends Oku Ibom Ibibio for His Fatherly Disposition
By Saviour Ekpe
A survivor of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), Dr. Enefiok Edem has expressed appreciation to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel for building and equipping the Isolation Center in the state.
In His message christened, “A Thank You Message Following a Successful COVID-19 Treatment At Ituk Mbang Isolation Center” sent to the governor and made available to Century Newsfront raised an alarm on the need for people to be safety conscious and observe all COVID-19 protocol in order to stay safe and sound in health, “I wish to use this medium to advice Akwa Ibom people and indeed, all Nigerians that COVID-19 is real and that active cases are being diagnosed and confirmed on a daily basis therefore, everyone should observe all necessary precautionary measures/protocol put in place by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) which has been adopted by the Akwa Ibom State Government in order to prevent folks from contracting the virus”.
Dr. Enefiok Edem, an Nsit Ubium-born politician and a former Special Assistant to the Akwa Ibom State Governor on Projects narrated the genesis of his ordeal, explained that he contracted the virus during his active service to his political party during the build up to the local government elections in the state, “I contracted the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) by the time Local Government primaries were being conducted. The initial clinical presentation mimicked Malaria and Typhoid Fever during the onset diagnosis, but when all prophylactic treatments failed, the next option was to rule out COVID-19. Based on the severity of my health challenge at that moment, the possibility of coming out of the situation alive even as a medical doctor at that critical moment was a bit shaky, but my faith in healing and complete recovery was taken to God in my daily prayers. After several days of treatment with no positive outcome, I was taken by the state’s ambulance to the Isolation Center, built and equipped by your administration. On arrival and admission to the facility, I received expert medical care and encouraging attention which gave me a renewed hope to recover and live again. Sir, I was dumbfounded and marveled by the array of equipment (both Clinical and Diagnostic) which I saw in the treatment centre and at that moment, I heaved a sigh of relief, because professionally, I understood the functions, usefulness and capacity of those sophisticated equipment”.
Edem, a Clinical Pathologist by profession and Fellow of American Society of Clinical Pathologists in the USA, gave Governor Udom a thump up for building and equipping the isolation center and all other diagnostic sub-specialties, which he described as world class, added that medical equipment/facilities installed are second to none in the country and have saved many lives especially during this trying moment of COVID-19 pandemic, “the Isolation Center with a state of the art functional medical facility, equipped with 300-bed capacity; houses a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR Laboratory); Category 3 Virology and Clinical Laboratories; inbuilt Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory; 24 Hours oxygen supply to sustain patients with decreased pulmonary function; 20 self-contained rooms for health personnel and other workers. I can recall vividly that the first isolation center was built by your administration during the Lassa Fever outbreak in Nigeria, the second was installed at the Ibom Specialist Hospital and this facility is the third that has been established by your administration to generally expand capacity and in all these, you have done your utmost best for Akwa Ibomites. It is therefore my humble suggestion and request to His Excellency, that the facility be converted to an Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) with a designated Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Center after the COVID-19 pandemic must have subsided for the overall benefit of Akwa Ibom people and Nigeria. I must confess that when you came on board as Governor of our dear State, Akwa Ibom people did not see this aspect of your resoluteness, sincerity and a result oriented leadership attitude that will culminate into putting up such structure that will save lives in place. Even when the global community underscored the severity and fatality toll that the pandemic which originated from Wuhan China will manifest, your vision as the Governor, proactively placed Akwa Ibom in a state of readiness to confront the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. This feat, would therefore make even your ardent critics believe that your emergence as Governor of Akwa Ibom State was Divine and timely”.
Speaking to Century Newsfront in Uyo recently, Dr. Edem also extolled the proactive commitment of the Secretary to the Government of Akwa Ibom State, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem who also is the Chairman, Akwa Ibom State COVID-19 Committee; the current Health Commissioner, Professor Agustine Umoh and the immediate past Commissioner for Health, Akwa Ibom State, Dr. Dominic Ukpong, the entire medical team in the state especially, those at the Isolation Center.
He particularly appreciates the Oku Ibom Ibibio and Chairman, Akwa Ibom State Council of Chiefs, His Eminence, Ntenyin Solomon D. Etuk, who is also the Paramount Ruler of Nsit Ubium Local Government Area, for his fatherly role and disposition during the period of his predicament, “I want to particularly thank the Oku Ibom Ibibio for standing by me and making necessary arrangements to ensure that my name was graciously and divinely deleted from the dreaded COVID-19 casualty list. May God bless him and all others concerned abundantly”.
