Health Minister visits polio patients

HEALTH Minister Dr Richard Kamwi yesterday paid a surprise visit to polio patients in Ward 5A of the Katutura Hospital and said he was pleased with the progress they are making.

“We are quite positive that we will kick polio out of Namibia,” Kamwi said a few minutes after moving through the rooms to check on the condition of the patients. Some, like 38-year-old Nicanor Shipweya, will be bedridden for the rest of their lives, but others, like five-year-old Daniela Uiras, have already started walking – with help, though .By yesterday the number of suspected polio cases in Namibia stood at 204 while the death toll remained at 23.Dr Abigale Feris, one of the doctors in charge of Ward 5A, said only one person was still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).”When it broke out, we saw a lot of patients coming in.They came out of fear and we admitted them for observation,” she said.The hospital authorities have since discharged over 84 patients.The majority walked out of the hospital.Polio normally attacks infants and young children and causes paralysis in about one out of 200 cases.At first it causes back pain, neck stiffness or pain, headache, fever, difficulty in walking and muscle pain, but after between one and five days it progresses to leg weakness, leg paralysis, arm weakness and difficulty in breathing.The time between infection and the onset of paralysis is seven to 14 days.Eight of the people in Ward 5A are paralysed.Dr Feris said Shipweya was paralysed from the shoulders down.His wife, Kaalina Kambonde (30), is pregnant with their fourth child and Dr Feris ruled out Shipweya’s chances of walking and running around with his children.Uiras, on the other hand, was about to leave the hospital.She had shown remarkable recovery, according to her uncle Moses Schaaf, who has been by her bedside since she was admitted a month ago.”Her parents are not in Windhoek.She was with us here when she got polio and I spend most of the day with her,” said the resident from the Gemengde Location in Katutura.During his tour of Ward 5A Kamwi chatted to the patients, encouraged them to move around and do physical exercises while giving a handshake of encouragement to others such as Shipweya who cannot move.He said the health machinery was oiled for next week’s second round of the vaccination campaign.The second shipment of 2,86 million doses of Monovalent Type One Oral Poliomyelitis (mOPV) vaccine arrived in Namibia last week.The second round is set for July 18 to 20.Everyone, including those who did not receive the drops in the first round, will be expected to turn up for the second round.The third round, which will be only for children under the age of five years, is scheduled for August 20 to 24.This will include polio and measles vaccinations as well as vitamin A supplementation.Some, like 38-year-old Nicanor Shipweya, will be bedridden for the rest of their lives, but others, like five-year-old Daniela Uiras, have already started walking – with help, though .By yesterday the number of suspected polio cases in Namibia stood at 204 while the death toll remained at 23.Dr Abigale Feris, one of the doctors in charge of Ward 5A, said only one person was still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).”When it broke out, we saw a lot of patients coming in.They came out of fear and we admitted them for observation,” she said.The hospital authorities have since discharged over 84 patients.The majority walked out of the hospital.Polio normally attacks infants and young children and causes paralysis in about one out of 200 cases.At first it causes back pain, neck stiffness or pain, headache, fever, difficulty in walking and muscle pain, but after between one and five days it progresses to leg weakness, leg paralysis, arm weakness and difficulty in breathing.The time between infection and the onset of paralysis is seven to 14 days.Eight of the people in Ward 5A are paralysed.Dr Feris said Shipweya was paralysed from the shoulders down.His wife, Kaalina Kambonde (30), is pregnant with their fourth child and Dr Feris ruled out Shipweya’s chances of walking and running around with his children.Uiras, on the other hand, was about to leave the hospital.She had shown remarkable recovery, according to her uncle Moses Schaaf, who has been by her bedside since she was admitted a month ago.”Her parents are not in Windhoek.She was with us here when she got polio and I spend most of the day with her,” said the resident from the Gemengde Location in Katutura.During his tour of Ward 5A Kamwi chatted to the patients, encouraged them to move around and do physical exercises while giving a handshake of encouragement to others such as Shipweya who cannot move.He said the health machinery was oiled for next week’s second round of the vaccination campaign.The second shipment of 2,86 million doses of Monovalent Type One Oral Poliomyelitis (mOPV) vaccine arrived in Namibia last week.The second round is set for July 18 to 20.Everyone, including those who did not receive the drops in the first round, will be expected to turn up for the second round.The third round, which will be only for children under the age of five years, is scheduled for August 20 to 24.This will include polio and measles vaccinations as well as vitamin A supplementation.

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