{"id":899,"date":"2020-12-18T20:02:38","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T20:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/uganda\/?p=899"},"modified":"2020-12-18T20:02:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T20:02:38","slug":"how-to-treat-covid-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/how-to-treat-covid-from-home","title":{"rendered":"How to treat Covid from home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Mr Alex Esagala, a photojournalist at Daily Monitor, tested positive for Covid-19 on December 6, but was advised by the doctor to take home-based care until he recovers.<\/p>\n

Mr Esagala said his sickness started three days after he returned from covering the political campaigns of FDC presidential candidate Patrick Oboi Amuriat in Acholi, Lango and West Nile sub-regions last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was feeling well when I returned to Kampala and spent two days resting at home. On the third day, which was a Friday, I went to office,\u201d he narrates.<\/p>\n

However on a Saturday morning when Esagala was at work, he developed a strange body weakness and thought it was a malaria attack. He went to a pharmacy and bought a drug.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that night, I couldn\u2019t sleep. I started getting high fever, muscle pain, too much headache and even diarrhoea,\u201d he recalls.By day break, his condition had worsened. He called his sister for help. \u201cShe took me to hospital,\u201d he says. But the medics were treating malaria since he had tested positive for the disease. \u201cAfter four days, they tested and found that malaria was out but the intensity of fever had almost doubled,\u201d Mr Esagala recounts.He developed breathing complications. His sister took him to hospital and doctors suspected Covid-19 infection.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoctors advised that I must go for Covid-19 testing. I went to Test and Fly, a private medical facility in Kampala, on December 5,\u201d Mr Esagala says.<\/p>\n

The next day, the results came out positive for Covid-19. \u201cDoctors asked me to go home. I talked to my friends at the Ministry of Health and others who helped me. I was told the type of medicine I should use,\u201d he recalls. He started taking a concoction of ginger, lemon, onions, mixed with other fruits. I was given azithromycin, zinc, vitamin C and Panadol,\u201d he adds. His sister took him to her home and gave him an isolation room.<\/p>\n

Mr Esagala says being in isolation is like being in a prison only that one can talk to a family member at some point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were just giving me food to eat [in the room] and when I am leaving for the hospital, they made sure I wore a face mask and had sanitisers,\u201d he narrates.<\/p>\n

He has been in isolation at home for more than 14 days but he is feeling better now. He is still taking the concoction and steamed mango leaves and menthoplus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI boil the leaves, pour in the bucket and apply mentho plus. Then I cover my head with a blanket over the bucket and steam for 30 minutes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He also does shadow boxing in the isolation room to relieve the lungs and symptoms such as cough. \u201cI have defeated it, prayers from people and the love I was given helped me recover fast. I have taken another test and I am waiting results for results\u201d he says. With the fast-growing number of coronavirus infections that has overwhelmed hospitals with patients, home-based care for people such as Mr Esagala has emerged as a viable alternative.<\/p>\n

Covid-19 cases<\/b><\/p>\n

As of yesterday, the country had registered 29,361 , 228 deaths and 10,172 recoveries.<\/p>\n

The Health ministry introduced home-based care in October to relieve the constrained health system.<\/p>\n

However, the large size of most Ugandan families which require more space for isolation, survival that depends on daily earning and strong drive to socialise continue to hinder implementation of the Covid-19 treatment.<\/p>\n

Dr Jackson Amone, the commissioner of clinical services at the Health Ministry, said home-based care is specifically for Covid-19 patients who are asymptomatic or having mild sickness.<\/p>\n

Patients who are symptomatic and may progress to severe conditions, those presenting with severe or critical symptoms and the elderly patients aged above 60 are not eligible for home-care, according to the ministry\u2019s guidelines.<\/p>\n

Also patients with other underlying complications and risk factors such as diabetes, obesity, HIV\/Aids, cancer, high blood pressure, kidney diseases, chronic lung diseases and those without proper isolation facilities are not eligible.<\/p>\n

Dr Amone, however, says a person who will be managed from home should have a separate room. \u201cBeing in isolation doesn\u2019t mean the patient cannot come out. They can come out and sit under a tree. But when they are moving out of the room, they should ensure that they don\u2019t mix with other people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He, however, says there is specific shift in diet when someone tests positive for Covid-19, for example, taking fruits and foods that are rich in vitamin and zinc. Such foods include mangoes, oranges, lemons, ginger, potatoes, beans, and chicken.<\/p>\n

According to the guidelines for home care treatmeant, there are essential medicines that patients should have such as azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine, panadol, vitamin C, and zinc tablets.<\/p>\n

The guidelines also indicate that the patient must agree to admission in case symptoms worsen and warrant hospital admission.<\/p>\n

The patient should also be confined at home until he is fit for discharge. Dr Amone didn\u2019t clarify how someone can be declared free from the virus while under home-based care.<\/p>\n

However, Dr Stephen Obbo, the director of Lira Regional Referral Hospital, who also involved in Covid-19 case management, said the patients in home care are discharged after 10 days when they are not showing symptoms.<\/p>\n

The standard is to do Covid-19 test to determine whether the virus is no longer in the body. \u201cThere should be one family member who will dedicate to give care. The care taker just needs to observe all Covid-19 measures,\u201d Dr Amone said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCaregiver should monitor the patient\u2019s well-being and ask the patient daily whether they are developing new or worsening symptoms including fever, cough, runny nose or flu-like illness, sore throat, shortness of breath and headache,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

A health worker from the nearest health facility should also monitor the patient. A large number of them, however, have low level of education and may not be competent. Dr Amone said they training on Covid-19 home care.<\/p>\n

11 precautions for successful home care<\/p>\n

\u2022 Prepare a separate room for isolation with adequate ventilation.\u2022 Provide clean water for hand washing.\u2022 Avail soap or other any other hand-hygiene products.\u2022 There should be a designated adult caregiver who regularly monitors the patient.\u2022 If possible, presence of a separate toilet or pit latrine. \u2022 If possible, presence of immediate access to a functioning telephone for communication. \u2022 A guaranteed source of food. \u2022 Patient should be readily accepted at home by the family. \u2022 There should be a health facility within reach of the home. \u2022 Availability of Village Health Teams (VHTs) linked to the home of the patient. \u2022 Reliable transport to rush to health facility in case the condition worsens.<\/p>\n

tabet@ug.nationmedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Mr Alex Esagala, a photojournalist at Daily Monitor, tested positive for Covid-19 on December 6, but was advised by the doctor to take home-based care until he recovers. Mr Esagala said his sickness started three days after he returned from covering the political campaigns of FDC presidential candidate Patrick Oboi Amuriat in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8],"tags":[233,234],"class_list":["post-899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to treat Covid from home - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/how-to-treat-covid-from-home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to treat Covid from home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Uganda. Mr Alex Esagala, a photojournalist at Daily Monitor, tested positive for Covid-19 on December 6, but was advised by the doctor to take home-based care until he recovers. 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