COVID19: LET THE INNOVATIONS LOOSE

 If you are reading this, CONGRATULATIONS! You are still alive and that is something to thank God for in this season of the Covid19 pestilence.

We thank God for the entire Ugandan medical fraternity that have fought the good fight, and thus far have they brought us. When one follows closely what is happening on the international scene, we should not place much of our trust in the good will of the rest of the world as it seems "every man for himself" has taken over. At times one cannot help but wonder if some of these international players are not indeed being deliberate about slow action or in some cases plain inaction. But kudos to the Ugandan medical fraternity who have wrought a good work in our midst.

In the midst of so much dark news, recent news on social media has been rife with number of great positive articles; for example a certain Prof Ogwang that is onto something in the realm of herbal therapy; we also have Dr. Nambatya that also has a solution already on the test shelves to provide therapeutic options. Then the other day I read about a one Dr. Makobore of Najjera Hospital that seems to have gotten the medical treatment equation right, at a time when many other hospitals and medical centers are taking their patients for granted in the midst of a very tough time. There are many other Medical heroes of this season whose names I have no access to, who are doing a great job in this fight. I wonder how some of the other players in this field are going to live with it when each time they look at their wealth accumulated in this season all they see is the blood of Ugandans that dug out their last pennies only to get nothing like they should have gotten for that value, and then ended up across the river before their time.

Anyhow, for some time now I have thought about what we can do as a nation to deal with this Covid19 crisis (and other crises coming in the future). These thoughts have resided in my mind since I left Mulago Hospital Covid19 HDU in December 2020 having fully recovered from the killer disease after careful handling by the excellent team of specialists manning this Unit. I realize that in times of national crisis we have to put on another set of hats that require silos to be broken down. A lot of great stuff is happening at the Mulago National Referral hospital and in the Ministry of Health in as far as treatment of and management of Covid19 is concerned. Like I mentioned in the previous paragraph as well, a lot of others are innovating therapies and treatments that have been proven to work in real time. I also have heard that Uganda is in advanced stages of developing its own homegrown Covid19 vaccine.

I wonder in time of war like this when some among us, rather than support these innovative efforts, find it in themselves to criticize these innovators that are trying so hard to save some lives. The other day I read an unfortunate comment on social media of a doubter that thinks nothing good can come out of Uganda; this was when someone posted that a Ugandan vaccine was in advanced stages of tests. I however think this is what happens when people have seen gory images for far too long and thereby get programmed by them; these images keep playing back to them even when the scene has already changed to the extent that the victim does not see any change but overwhelming flashbacks of the gory past before them all the time. One of the lessons I learned whilst I was hospitalized with COvid19 was that this disease loves negativity and will thrive much in such environments. This is true for the patients as it is for those affected by it. It is time for lots of positivity to issue out in our society even as we continue to be cautious and observe the SOPs.

A few things that I think the great medical fraternity can do (perhaps they already are doing so):

1)   1)  Treatment centers like the Mulago National Referral Hospital Covid19 HDU that have scored huge successes in treating this disease should open up to all medical practitioners to volunteer to learn. I think there would be a lot of value for any willing medical practitioner volunteering at the HDU and ICU of Mulago for at least a week. A lot of mentorship can happen in the process that will help speed up learnings and build networks to fight this monster.

2)  2) There could be daily online conferences for Medical practitioners that divulge new observations and findings plus all other helpful information on the disease. Discussions could happen on this forum to decongest and solve conundrums as well as to share experiences that can help move things swiftly forwards. The old English adage “two heads are better than one” comes to mind.

 3)    We need to encourage our medical innovators to share the different therapies and treatments that they have found to work, and as well share the levels of efficacy that they have registered in these. Historically Uganda adopted the western world approach that beats down medical innovators especially if what they talk about seems new in approach or is unheard of before.

I have witnessed over the years medical expert “mobs” beating down medical innovators who were later proven right at the cost of loads of Human lives. I sometimes wonder if it is better to keep people alive with these innovations as we get to understand their interactions better or simply let them die until we perfect our understanding of them. In the former case at least, there is chance that some of our people would live to die another day. I think we need this paradigm shift to encourage these medical innovators to speak up.

There is no disease for which a solution does not exist. It is just that we do not know it yet, but remedies already exist; so lets create an atmosphere to bring these out. This way we shall swiftly move forward together.

Oh Uganda, may God uphold thee; We lay our future in thine hands!