My name is Othieno, I am from Nakuru, Kenya.
A week ago, my mother was admitted with covid-19 to one of the hospitals here, however, she was discharged before completing the treatment. She still had difficulties in breathing and we could try our best to see that we create something to help her with breathing but we saw that this was not going to help in a short run.
I saw different testimonies about the covidex and went ahead to read more about it, however, I saw that it was not approved by Ugandan medical authorities for official use. This gave me a hiccup but I decided to give it a try since I had no other option of saving my mother.
I asked a few Ugandan friends on how I could I get it delivered to me and they recommended someone who delivered it to me a consignment of 5 pieces at Shs25,000 (Ksh758) each.
My mother is now fine, for morethan a week now, she has not had any complications and she has not yet completed her dose.
I want to thank the professor who made research and came up with this because if it wasn’t because of it, my mother would be dead by now.
NDA yet to clear COVIDEX officially
The National Drug Authority (NDA) has said it is still gathering more information about Covidex, before directing on usage.
The herbal medicine is said to have been manufactured by senior scientists at Mbarara University-based firm Pharmbiotrac.
With vaccines in short supply and Covid-19 infections soaring daily, and hundreds being hospitalised or killed by the virus, the public is frantically searching for remedies to boost immunity or fend off the mass killer disease.
But there is sharp split of opinion on whether herbal medicine is the best option to quickly fix the infections and deaths.
While scientists say the best option to stop the pandemic remains a vaccine, enough of it won’t be available soon to save the 21.9 million Ugandans who the government says need it.
In light of this scarcity, many have come to see Covidex, marketed as a novel ‘Covid cure’, as a quick treatment to stop their panic and death from Covid-19.
The drug, made by Mbarara University scientists led by Prof Patrick Ogwang, had filled up drug stores and are selling out so quickly and in large quantities.
However, on June 14, both the National Drug Authority (NDA) and Mbarara University of Science and Technologhy (MUST) issued statements banning the use of the drug.
Each of the small 20mls bottle was being snatched up at between Shs20,000 and Shs30,000, but soon after the ban, the prices soared to Shs50,000.
Covidex was being touted as both curative and preventive treatment for Covid-19.
Currently, lucky buyers can only secure supplies by contacting someone who knows another who had bought off some good quantities of the drugs.
