Uche, the second son of Nollywood screen legend, Pete Edochie, has given an insight into how much ailing Nigerians who tested positive for COVID-19 pay to stay alive in various treatment centres across the country.
The 46-year-old contemporary interior designer and photographer relived his experience via his Instagram page on Friday.
While expressing concerns that managing the virus in Nigeria is expensive, Uche claimed that he paid N350,000 daily to manage the infection before he was transferred to First Cardiology Centre in Ikoyi for lung and heart rehabilitation.
According to the younger Edochie, he was placed on oxygen for weeks after he suffered severe chest pains and couldn’t walk.
He wrote, “Me in recovery at the covid 19 isolation treatment facility in Gbagada around twelve days ago. My older brother @leoedochie paid me a visit. Best big brother ever. So Covid finally got me and it is quite some story.”
Uche averred that when he fell sick some weeks ago, he initially thought it was malaria.
Consequently, he spent the first couple of weeks treating the symptoms of malaria.
“By the time I realised this could be something else, it was too late. By the time I was rushed to the hospital, eighty percent of my lungs were damaged. I couldn’t eat or breathe and I was on oxygen for weeks. I couldn’t walk either and had severe chest pains. I kept blacking out. It felt like I was dying and waking up over and over again. I have never seen anything like this.
“For the first time in my life, I had no control over anything. I felt like I was on a boat drifting away in the still of the night rudderless.The days that followed passed bye slowly and everything was a blur. I just remember laying in the hospital and floating endlessly like a feather in an abyss of nothing. The days turned to weeks and my recovery is going well. I am fully cured of covid now and I am able to walk a little. My lungs will take months to heal completely. So I am still on oxygen and other medications but I am back home.”
“Curing covid costs a fortune too and that is a problem. That is often why people die. The facility where I was treated charges N350,000 a day. I was there for twelve days before being moved to First Cardiology Centre in Ikoyi for my lung and heart rehabilitation. Total cost of my treatment so far has exceeded six million naira. I know a guy whose covid treatment cost seventeen million naira.”
“Governments must invest in affordable treatment or more and more people will die. Affordable treatment is our last line of defense. We have tried lock downs, masks and vaccines and covid is still spreading. Even the vaccinated are still catching covid.”
“And that was my covid experience. My family has been incredibly supportive and so have the healthcare workers that took care of me. In all these people, I saw the face of God. I will never forget.”
His post somewhat generated mixed reactions from his fans and followers.
Reacting to his post, May, wife of his younger brother, Yul Edochie, expressed delight at his recovery.
“Thank God for life,” she wrote.
Another Instagram follower, Ugochukwu Mgbojikwe, congratulated him and further emphasised the need for Nigerians to get vaccinated.
“Please everyone should get vaccinated ooooo….. Thank GOD for preserving your life…,” he said
A certain iam_kibaba, however, took a swipe at the painter, saying he was an anti-vaxxer.
A anti-vaxxer is a person who is opposed to vaccination of any kind, including a parent who does not wish to vaccinate their child.
“Are you not the same guy campaigning against Vaccination against this deadly virus? If it’s you – thank God you’re alive to testify! Go and get yourself vaccinated- for we over here, we are ready for 3rd Jab and also getting ready for Flu jab! Let’s not be deceived 😂. Life is sweet,” he wrote.
