COVID-19: Akwa Ibom index case vows to return to work

The COVID-19 index case in Akwa Ibom State, Dr Otobong Asuquo, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist has vowed to return to work after he’s discharged from isolation centre. He is being treated at Ibom Speciality Hospital and says contracting the disease would not change his vow to save lives. He said he would ensure his personal […]

The COVID-19 index case in Akwa Ibom State, Dr Otobong Asuquo, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist has vowed to return to work after he’s discharged from isolation centre.

He is being treated at Ibom Speciality Hospital and says contracting the disease would not change his vow to save lives.

He said he would ensure his personal protection in the discharge of his duties.

Asuquo said he contracted the virus during a free medical outreach in Ibesikpo Asutan local government area which took place between 9th to 13th March 2020,

“I am going back to work! I vowed to protect lives and nothing can discourage me from doing so. But this time around, I have to be very strict with personal protection. Protect yourself if you are negative. COVID-19 is real,” he said.

Narrating how he suspected he was infected, Dr Asuquo said he had been reading about COVID-19, so when he sensed he had the symptoms, he isolated himself for 10 days before the emergency response team from the state government took him to the isolation centre.

He explained that when he tested positive to the virus, initially, he feared for his life and was worried about what would happen to this wife and children, but after analysing the mortality rate in the country, he became emboldened that he will not die.

“I was part of the outreach that occurred from 9th to 13th March 2020. I noticed some symptoms that were pushing towards COVID-19. When I told some colleagues, they were thinking I was crazy.

“They argued and wondered that since I had not travelled, but had been in Uyo, where did I get it from? It was actually when we got the news that one of the US based nurses that came to assist us, and volunteered for the mission tested positive on arrival in the US, that my index of suspicion arose.

“When the result came out, since I had made up my mind that it would either to be positive or negative, I accepted the result and moved on. Being the first positive index case in Akwa Ibom State, as a human, I was afraid I was going to die. COVID-19 was deadly, killing people in the United States, China and all over the world.

“I started thinking about my kids, my wife, and who would take care of my young children. But with time, I just realised that the mortality rate based on what was happening in Lagos and Abuja was not much, that I had some chances of survival. So I made up my mind, that with God, I was going to push myself through it.

“I got a call in the morning of 2nd April that the ambulance would come for me. What really helped me was that I am a doctor, and I have been having ambulances coming to pick me at home to work. So, people in the environment did not really know. They thought it was the normal way, as an ambulance has come to pick me for surgery.

“I was taken in an ambulance to Ibom Specialist hospital where I was isolated. There were initial lapses on the first day but everything normalised on the second day. My stay in the hospital has been very perfect, I really enjoyed my stay in Ibom Specialist hospital.

“In the isolation centre, we have that privacy and confidentiality. You don’t know what is happening in the next room and you don’t even know who is in the next room. Most importantly, there was constant light and water,” he stated.