Hours after his father and his 2 children were discharged from the Coronavirus treatment centre, Chairman of DAAR Communications PLC, Raymond Dokpesi Jnr has also tested negative to the virus.
Also Read: COVID-19: DAAR Founder Raymond Dokpesi Discharged
Officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC called him Thursday night to inform him of the test results. Two other family have also recovered from the infection and tested negative to the virus.
Dokpesi Jnr. who will be formally discharged on Friday has expressed his appreciation to Nigerians who stood by the family in prayers and support.
Below is the full text of his appreciation message
Let me start by thanking Almighty God, the ultimate healer for his divine protection and intercession in restoring myself and other members of my family to impeccable good health.
I also wish to express my most profound appreciation to the very professional and dedicated staff of the ncdc and the university of abuja teaching hospital medical team who attended to me and members of my family for the duration of our isolation at their center in gwagwalada.
I wish to thank and appreciate members of my family, friends, board management and staff of daar communications plc as well as well wishers from all walks of life in nigeria and internationally who prayed, fasted, held vigils and sent messages to me, my family and my known associates. Your love, prayers and well wishes have humbled me and were a source of strength and inspiration to me at the very darkest moments of my life.
Your show of love shall never be forgotten as I pray almighty god keeps you in perfect good health and touches you in your time of need.
My sojourn at the gwagwalada isolation center was an eye-opening experience which imbued me with confidence in the unabated enthusiasm and commitment of nigerian public health workers to serve and ensure the welfare of each of their patients. It was also an exposé into the practical limitations of the system in ensuring even with best intentions that public health objectives in the face of covid-19 are achieved and sustained.
With praise and glory to almighty god I started feeling immediate improvement in my wellbeing once the combination of azithromycin, chloroquine and zinc were administered to me by wednesday 29th april 2020. My senses of smell and taste which were lost since the time I arrived at the facility were restored by friday 1st may 2020. All my vital signs including temperature, blood pressure, pulse and oxygen saturation improved and have consistently shown excellent readings since. The oxygen machine which was brought to my room became redundant.
However whilst I can attest to my improvement in physical health and wellbeing, I regret to say that since my initial test to date, I have never seen any documentary evidence of any test result. I take it in trust and good faith that the ncdc pronounced me covid-19 positive and that they have now also pronounced me covid-negative. I will appreciate it if the documentary records of the various tests on me and members of my family are made available for our medical records.
Unless a spotlight is beamed on our testing facilities, capacity and documentation there is an immediate risk that patients will lose confidence in the statements of public healthcare providers but more significantly, we will fail to move the needle forward in the battle against covid-19 itself.
Let me conclude once again thanking all the medical professionals that attended to me and my family for their diligence and professionalism throughout my time at the University of Abuja teaching hospital isolation facility.
Please accept the assurances of my highest esteem and warm personal regards.
Stay safe,
Raymond Paul Dokpesi Jnr.
(editor: terverr tyav)
