Mutare oxygen plant, a national treasure
In his first interview after leaving hospital in April last year, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recounted the desperate moments when his life hung in the balance.
“I was going through litres and litres of oxygen,” he said, adding about his recovery: “I was a very lucky man.”
The British Prime Minister’s comment highlighted the critical importance of medical oxygen. Without it, his brush with Covid-19 might have had a tragically different ending.
I was a lucky man too. After testing positive to Covid-19, I was prescribed the routine medication that included prednisolone, zinc, azithromycin, aspirin, ceftriaxone and instructed to go into isolation.
Within two days of isolation at home and administering home remedies, my situation drastically deteriorated as my oxygen saturation levels went down. Breathing became a struggle, I started feeling dizzy and literally gasping for air.
We had no idea which hospital or clinic to go to. A relative called St Anne’s Hospital and US$3 000 upfront was needed before any admission.
It was a dire situation. Just in the nick of time and as if sent by an angel, a benefactor called from the blue to inquire about my health.
“Mataire, if your oxygen levels have deteriorated to 78 percent you are going to die at home. Please call Dr Johannes Marisa immediately. He has saved a lot of people,” the benefactor said with a concerned voice.
I never got to call Dr Marisa. It was in fact the benefactor who called him and within half an hour we were at the doctor’s private clinic. By that time my oxygen levels had gone down to 67 percent.
Dr Marisa expressed grave concern over my saturation levels. Any further delays, he said, I was going to die as my internal organs were likely to collapse because of lack of oxygen.
I was immediately put on oxygen. And for the next eight days, my life hung on that oxygen. I lost count of the oxygen tanks administered. My chest was excruciatingly painful and I fell into a stupor countless times.
I am told on the fourth day of my admission, medical staff told close relatives that my chances of survival were 50-50. But still they never gave up on me as they continued administering oxygen.
It was on the ninth day, that Dr Marisa started weaning me from oxygen, first for a few minutes and gradually for hours. My chest was excruciatingly painful, but the doctor assured of gradual healing.
A chest X-ray taken after my discharge from hospital showed severe Covid-pneumonia and damage to the lungs. Although the virus is long gone, the after effects are still wreaking havoc as I am still struggling to do the tiniest of tasks.
That I am a survivor of the Covid-19 virus is not out of steaming or home remedies. This was not a mild contraction. Without oxygen I would have been history.
According to Dr Marisa, the SARS CoV-2 virus causes Covid-19 pneumonia and hypoxemia. Hypoxemia is lack of oxygen in the blood, the common complication of Covid-19 pneumonia and a major cause of death.
In severe pneumonia like the one I contracted, oxygen is critical in that it relieves hypoxemia as it allows time for infection to clear and the lungs to heal. Oxygen is a lifesaver for Covid-19 patients.
This is the context in which we must understand and appreciate the setting up of the Medical Oxygen Plant recently commissioned by President Mnangagwa in Mutare.
President Mnangagwa
Developed by a State-owned firm, Verify Engineering, which is under the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, the facility is indeed a national treasure.
Beyond the fight against Covid-19, the plant will play an integral role in the production of medical oxygen and liquid nitrogen used as coolants to store medicine and vaccines.
Therein lies President Mnangagwa’s visionary leadership as he is setting up solid foundational economic blocks for future’s prosperity. The Second Republic has been putting theory into practice at policy level and the setting up of the Mutare Oxygen Plant exemplifies President Mnangagwa’s pragmatism.
Not only will the facility complement Government efforts in the fight against Covid-19, but will ensure that the country becomes self-sufficient and subsequently cut imports.
We sometimes forget that oxygen is life-saving essential medicine because it’s all around us in the air we breathe. Yet medical oxygen is a key treatment for severe pneumonia, malaria, sepsis and meningitis.
Medical oxygen is the primary treatment for the majority of patients suffering severe Covid-19 symptoms. That’s the reason why WHO is recommending that all countries focus on the development of medical oxygen system and provision of pulse oximeters to measure blood oxygen levels.
In Zimbabwe, most hospitals rely on medical oxygen supplied by cylinders filled at industrial gas plants and transported by trucks.
Patients are typically charged directly for the cost of refilling. Treating a patient suffering from Covid-19 for 8-9 days costs a huge sum, which for the poorest represents a huge barrier to treatment.
There is no doubt that the Mutare Medial Oxygen Plant will not only make the country self-sufficient, but will make the oxygen affordable.
Covid-19 is a public health crisis without parallel in recent history. Zimbabwe must be commended for turning the spotlight on medical oxygen as one of defining health equity issues of our medical oxygen as one of our age.
We have proven to the world that universal access to oxygen is not an elusive aspiration.
We have shown that we lack neither the finance nor technical expertise.
President Mnangagwa must be commended for showing astute political leadership in setting up such noble enduring projects that will benefit generations to come.-herald.cl.zw
