President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni first challenged Covidex maker Prof Patrick Engeu Ogwang to use the the herbal medicine to cure himself of Covid19 to prove the drug’s efficacy, despite the Pharmacy lecturer telling the head of state the concoction had healed an American professor.
In a series of phone calls, Museveni grilled Prof Ogwang before giving his Covidex green light.
Prof Ogwang told Museveni his drug had healed over six people, including his cousin and a professor from the US.
PROF PATRICK OGWANG SHARES TESTIMONIES OF PEOPLE CURED OF COVID19 BY COVIDEX
As told to Capital FM’s Desert Island Discs
One of my friends, an American professor I had invited to come to Mbarara University [of Science and Technology – MUST] to help us develop a certain programme.He had to leave everything and come live at MUST, to begin a new programme in clinical pharmacy.
He came without pay. One time, as he came to the burial of my uncle, he had contact with someone with Covid, and caught it. [This was] during the first wave.He was badly off; he was admitted at hospital. He was put on oxygen. It was a personal guilt for me; I asked myself, if this American dies here, he has come on his own, he has no family here, how am I going to handle it? It was a real pain on my heart. Every time I went to see him in hospital, I knelt and prayed for this man.
But one day God put it in my heart, that ‘that formula there, which you are using for wounds in the mouth, dental pain, could help this man’; because, Covid stays in your nose, and in your throat; that’s where it multiplies itself initially before it goes to the lungs. If you can handle it from the nose and throat, you have weakened it. [I told my friend] ‘You use it in addition to your usual medicines; drop it in your mouth, three times a day’. I gave it to him like on Monday and went to Kampala. Wednesday, he calls me and tells me, “I am much better, and I think I will be discharged on Friday”. I was surprised. On Friday he called and said, “I have been discharged”. I went on Saturday, and found he had paid his bills. His lung was deteriorating; but now [it was okay].
This year in March, a friend called Petronilla, stays in Entebbe; I normally give her my medicines for different diseases.She was like, “Professor, don’t you have something for Covid? My friend is badly off and he is on oxygen. The father is just crying.”I told her, “There is a formula I am developing, but I have not finished it or labeled it. Just go to my lab in Entebbe, the boys there will mix for you. But I had forgotten the exact formula”.
I told the boys, “pick this and this, mix and give her six bottles”. There was not even a label. I told her, “You really know me, you trust me; you just go with it to the patient.” Two days later, she called and told me the patient was already off oxygen. Three days more, she told me, the patient has been discharged!
Within that time, my cousin in Namugongo, called Andrew Ebyau sent me a message, “Professor, we are dying: me, my wife and daughter. We are all down with Covid.” I was very busy in the lab.The wife also called me, “Doctor, we are going to die! I am on oxygen, I can’t even talk.” I almost cried.
A friend of mine whose child was down also took it and the child got better within a few days. Even the person in ICU in Nsambya I had sent it to was improving.
CURE YOURSELF FIRST
But despite the testimonies, Museveni had his doubts.
But ahead of Prof Ogwang’s meeting with National Drug Authority (NDA), Museveni got an opportunity to test Ogwang after he caught the virus.
“Then I recalled I was going to meet these [NDA] people. So, I said let me go and take a Covid test. I went with my wife in the morning and we did the test. I got the results the following day.
But by evening, I was getting weak, a lot of saliva in my mouth, no smell for food. I was taking some of my medicine for prevention, but some days I would forget. So, I am like, this might be real Covid. I said let me start on my own strict dose that same Monday I was supposed to meet NDA people.
My wife was like, “Professor, you must take modern medicine.” I was like, “I am not going to take modern medicine. I will only take Covidex; let it cure me and I will see if it works.”
When results came on Tuesday, they confirmed that I had Covid. So, I put myself on a dose of Covidex and Vitamin C and antibiotics; that is all I used. Then Nakyobe called me on Tuesday and I said, “I cannot meet you because I am unwell also; this virus has attacked me.”
She said, “Professor, use your medicine and first cure yourself.” I said, “Yes I am using my medicine; let it first cure me then I can come and meet you.”
When the president called me, I was open to him. He asked, “Are you using your medicine?” I said, “Yes. And I am using Vitamin C.”
It did not put me down; I just stayed at home for 10 days. For the first two days, my oxygen levels were around 94 and 95. I felt a little bit of increased heart rate, and no appetite, a lot of mucus in the mouth. Within two days, my mucus disappeared, my airways were open, fever did not come, and cough did not come.
No cough at all; the medicine was working perfectly. No Zinc, no Hedex, no all those things. I was just taking my Covidex, Vitamin C, fruit juice with ginger and so on, and another formula to boost my immunity. By day four, my appetite came back, I began eating, and energy began coming back.
By day five, I began exercises at home, walking around. Day six, I was playing football. Day seven, I could jog around. I tested on day ten, and I was negative.
So, the president called me. He kept on following me every day. When he called, he asked, “Did you test?”
I said, “Yes, and I am negative.” He was so happy, so happy! “You used our medicine?” he calls it ‘medicine from Kumam’ [laughs].
And I was like, “Yes!” I never used Azithromycin and all those other drugs they recommend. “So, it means all the drugs you have used, we can make them locally here?” The president was so happy! I also felt very happy in my heart; at least it had treated me, myself!
Additional reporting and transcript: Courtesy/Desert Island Discs & John Musinguzi
