By writer to punchng.com
Fidelis Dzuana is the elder brother of the late Dr Philip Dzuana, 34, a resident physician with the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, who died lately after contracting Lassa fever. He tells JOHN CHARLES about his brother’s battle earlier than he died
You lately misplaced your youthful brother to Lassa fever, believed to have been contracted from one among his sufferers, was it at all times his dream to grow to be a health care provider?
Sure, that was at all times his dream. He died on the age of 34. As a result of he needed to grow to be a health care provider, he wasted nearly 5 years after his secondary training. He needed to go to many universities, in search of admission.
When he obtained the required examination rating, he went to Ahmadu Bello College, Zaria, Kaduna State and was rejected as a result of he was not an indigene of Kaduna. From there he went to College of Jos, Plateau State they usually additionally rejected him. He continued to hunt college admission till I informed him to use to the Benue State College, Makurdi. I informed him that if he utilized to the state college, we may help him and that was what occurred. I used to be in a position to render vital help and he was given admission.
How did you are feeling when he graduated from the school of drugs?
I used to be very joyful; all the household was extraordinarily joyful when he graduated. He was decided to succeed so his dying could be very painful.
What have been among the sacrifices he made to grow to be a health care provider?
Dr. Philip Dzuana was a promising younger man. Typically when he got here to me and I requested him why I by no means noticed him with girlfriends, he would say he didn’t have time for girlfriends and that he was pursuing his academic profession. He died with out a girlfriend. No girlfriend cried for him as a result of he didn’t have any.
How did you hear about his dying?
He died in my arms. It occurred on a Wednesday morning. He was staying with one among his colleagues. I used to be referred to as round 5am and informed that he was sick so I went to get him. I took him to Bishop Murray Hospital, Makurdi. They admitted him there however later that evening, they transferred him to the Benue College Instructing Hospital, Makurdi. They ran some checks and began remedy instantly.
We slept within the hospital that evening and his remedy continued the next day. After they suspected that it was Lassa fever, they put him in a separate ward. After spending two days within the hospital, they referred us to a specialist hospital in Edo State. They gave us a referral to Irrua Specialist Instructing Hospital. We left on Sunday morning for the hospital in an ambulance belonging to the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, in firm with a nurse and a driver.
Once we obtained there, their medical doctors and nurses began operating up and down to provide him remedy. Actually, these medical doctors by no means gave up once they found that he was additionally a health care provider. They mentioned I might not be capable of sleep with him because it was Lassa fever however I insisted that he was my brother and that anyplace they put him, I should be there with him. So, we slept within the Lassa ward collectively.
Two days later, after I bathed him, a male nurse got here to provide him medicine. Shortly after, he began convulsing. The nurse began operating away. They felt it was dying sentence to be there with him. So I requested the nurse why he was operating away. Actually, I shouted on the nurse. I held my brother tightly. Assuming I used to be not there, what would have occurred? It may have been a worse dying. This was somebody they mentioned one couldn’t contact or get near; I slept within the remoted Lassa ward with him until morning and bathed him. So once I shouted on the nurse and requested him to help me, are you aware my boy got here again to life, pondering that he was the one I used to be shouting at? Later, he began convulsing once more and his respiration turned heavy. The medical doctors mentioned he needed to go for an additional dialysis.
They performed first one (dialysis), second one and third one. After the dialysis, his respiration was nonetheless heavy and he was moved to a different ward. At that time, they prevented me from becoming a member of him however I may see him by means of the glass. They tied his legs and arms to the mattress. I felt they didn’t need him to proceed to battle. I saved watching him and after a while, he by no means struggled once more. Later, a health care provider got here to inform me that my youthful brother couldn’t make it.
If you happen to imagine in God, you may overcome each scenario. So, I shortly pulled myself collectively and went straight to the ward to see his corpse. There was nothing I may do once more. So, I referred to as individuals within the village to inform them to place vital issues on the bottom for his burial. As a matter of truth, the hospital administration did their greatest as a result of they made effort to make sure he survived. However I’ve observed that when well being staff see sufferers in such a situation, they’re at all times afraid. Nevertheless it may make the scenario precarious because the affected person is left with no person round them. He died round 5am that Wednesday.
He was put in a physique bag and I drove straight to my village within the Katsina-Ala Native Authorities Space of the state the place the corpse was buried that very same day within the presence of some medical doctors from the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi.
Do you assume it’s good for well being staff to be operating away from sufferers?
It’s unlucky that folks do this as a result of it means they don’t imagine in God. If you happen to imagine in God, you’ll not be too afraid of issues like that. If you happen to don’t have a father, how do you exist? If you happen to don’t have God, you’ll proceed to run however I’ve God and that’s my very own energy. They discouraged me from going close to him. They defined that there have been individuals who introduced their family members to the hospital and contracted the illness within the course of, and that the sufferers have been handled they usually survived, however those that introduced them didn’t survive it.
It was a tragic expertise to see a medical employee who must look after my brother operating away from him. Even when he was convulsing, the nurse ran away to the extent that he stumbled as a result of he noticed dying coming. They (medical personnel) don’t have to run away; they need to think about God as a result of they’re providing a service and it is just God that may shield them.
What was the very first thing that got here to your thoughts your thoughts instantly your child brother gave up the ghost?
It was horrible. Like I mentioned, God has energy to make you are feeling as if nothing occurred.
How troublesome has this era been for you and your mother and father?
Actually, it’s a very troublesome scenario for the entire household. However for me, who witnessed every part until he died, it was a horrible and unimaginable expertise. Earlier than he died, I used to be the one operating errands, shopping for drugs and so forth. It was hell. I imagine no household will pray for that sort of scenario; nobody anticipated it.
What are the fond reminiscences you might have of him?
He was a really good individual; he by no means bothered me. After he obtained college admission, he got here and informed me about college charges he needed to pay. I mentioned okay. Actually, he by no means bothered me, similar to others. I’ve skilled three of them as much as college stage. They weren’t bothered about social life. What my brother needed was to qualify for his medical occupation, which he did. He was very decided and brave. that finding out drugs takes as much as six years in some universities however on the Benue State College, they spent 10 years.
Throughout his time within the college, there was no scholarship for them and he didn’t obtain any help from the state authorities.
He liked me a lot; he was at all times ready to listen to what I might say. He was a pleasant youngster.
Did you ever assume his job may put him in peril?
I do know the hazards related to their job. I’m an herbalist and everybody within the household, together with the late Dr Dzuana knew this. It’s unhappy that he fell sick this time, he thought it was simply fever and as a medical physician, he and his colleagues have been treating it till it went out of hand. That was when he got here to the hospital.
Would you might have most well-liked if he was by no means a health care provider than to die within the strategy of serving to others to outlive?
No, I wouldn’t have most well-liked him to not be a health care provider. When it’s your time, you’ll go. It’s good to do a job that means that you can assist individuals and there are such a lot of methods of doing God’s work. Medication is among the methods by which you are able to do God’s work.
Did he know initially that it was Lassa fever?
I don’t know as a result of we didn’t talk about it earlier than he died however I imagine his colleagues should have talked about it to him once they have been treating him. I don’t assume he knew he had contracted Lassa fever.
Do you assume his case was effectively managed when he turned a affected person?
His case was effectively managed as a result of his colleagues by no means gave up. On the instructing hospital in Makurdi the place he was, the medical director got here there to see him and mentioned we must always not pay a kobo. His colleagues took care of different issues. If it needed to do with remedy, they might have accomplished it.
And once we went to Edo, we had a rebate of N100,000. That’s to let you know how they cooperated. These hospitals managed issues very effectively. At Irrua Specialist Instructing Hospital, he was unable to make it as a result of we introduced him there late.
What recommendation do you might have for medical doctors treating comparable illnesses?
Some nations handle their residents however it isn’t so in some others due to corruption and lack of provision of enough services for the safety of medical personnel. There is no such thing as a place with out skilled hazards even in developed nations however the distinction is that developed nations present private protecting tools for medical doctors.
So you allow a health care provider unprotected when that they are often contaminated by a contagious illness. Typically, younger medical doctors should not very skilled in defending themselves in opposition to lethal ailments. They’re keen to assist and have lots of vitality. My child brother contracted it from a affected person.
Assuming he was nonetheless alive, would you might have preferred him to be treating COVID-19 sufferers?
Why not? He was a health care provider; I might gladly enable him to assist society. The error I made was that when COVID-19 pandemic got here, I ought to have referred to as him to return for drugs which might take out any dangerous factor in his system. I thought of calling him nevertheless it slipped my reminiscence. Assuming my brother took that drugs, nothing would have occurred to him by the grace of God.
Authorities ought to present enough protecting tools for medical doctors and pay them good salaries and allowances and never owe them. Typically, medical doctors complain about being owed salaries and never being paid effectively. However these are individuals who each day threat their lives to save lots of others.
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