Identify True Scientists From Fake Scientists: Design Health Policies As Tools For Economic Revival In Africa

By Collins Tugumisirize

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32
“What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” Luke 12: 3 BY Jesus Christ

In my honest opinion I think the African Professor Ogwang Engeu Patrick should  be brought back on TV because for the first time in over a year and a half, science was given a fresh image of hope, love, faith with liberating capacities in real life. The simple manner with which the professor spoke about science as a solution using his childhood stories in the village, in school and his desire to save lives of friends including an American living in Uganda, was a radical shift from previous Govt Doctors on TV calling for mandatory vaccines, lockdowns, arrests, and accusing patients who died of covid (including front line health workers who sacrificed their lives) as deserving death for not complying to the infamous SOPs which cannot be accounted for.  Some scientists are like catechism graduates religiously repeating failed health policies like inflexible rules as they seeking to make their audiences fear for their lives or feel guilty for not doing enough to comply to mandatory SOPs which by the way is an endless self condemnation guilt tripping of vulnerable depressed public who cannot prove their innocence on their level of compliance . Professor told real life stories on TV of his personal struggle to recover from covid, inspirations from God to find formula for treatment,  his love for people driving him to save lives, personal sacrifices to get people out of hospitals.

Merely telling the public that because people are dying of covid19 therefore all should rush to get vaccinated without testing (which W.H.O claims is on trial as their technology based on mRNA and DNA effects is still being investigated) is irresponsible. It is negative PR  on Govts account whenever health officials accuse people who die of covid including front line health workers that they deserve to have died because they did not observe SOPs. Many people who had grown to dislike the President because of assuming he used the science of death to justify every injustice, until what shocked everyone is how Professor Ogwang spoke about the President as a caring saint who called him daily to check on his wellbeing, to support his efforts to save lives, which left many in opposition confused after the image portrayed before by Govt health officials. Even children enjoyed listening to Professor Ogwang saying they want to become scientists who save lives like him, but not like previous TV scientists who made science like death instrument instead of it being a gift from God who loves mankind. Govt health officials should be honest on TV to explain the composition of trial vaccines, what they know and dont know about effects and avoid trying to justify or market them because they can be held accountable unlike WHO or vaccine manufacturers who have clearly stated that everyone who gets the jab has volunteered for their trial experimentation.

Science used to be a discovery of natural solutions, phenomena which  a loving God had provided when he created the earth for the happiness, wellbeing and freedom of mankind. Today when the only scientific solutions have to do with taking away freedom to eat, to liberty, to happiness, hope and love for humanity, becoming a tool of fear, intimidation and arrests, it makes science worse than our forefather’s hopelessness superstitions of death. Solving problems calls for creativity, innovation which is not nurtured by fear, intimidation and threatening people who get sick or those who share their opinions openly but comes by being open minded, courageous and determined to make sure the cures (lockdown, SOPs, vaccines) you offer are not worse than the disease (curable covid 99% recovery rate) itself. True scientists have a simple way of telling science stories of love, faith and hope and have no need to intimidate, threaten or use fear to achieve compliance. A true scientist would never recommend people to starve to death or stop earning decent livelihood because of the risk of contracting a disease of which 99% of cases have recovered over a long period of data in one and half years and neither would they recommend them for vaccination which used to be used for killer incurable infectious diseases.

Ministry of Health scientists need to learn from Professor Ogwang, who assumed personal responsibility for finding a local treatment solution for the people getting sick and prevent them from dying through prioritising treatment capabilities as a priority objective. Africa has proved local capacity for developing treatments but has no local capacity for developing vaccines as a matter of national health, economic and security policy. Imagine the economic revolution which can come out of covidex treatment, further research into agriculture, manufacturing and hospital expansion to serve neighboring nations in addition to our local population. Govt Health officials are now tell the public after vaccinating over a million people, that someone who is “not vaccinated” is not different from one who is “vaccinated” when it comes to risk of getting infected, making it national priority to focus on building local treatment capabilities. This is strange but is handled as normal yet the experts recommendation of mass vaccination has been marketed based on success of previous vaccines like polio, measles, yellow fever vaccines which prevent one from getting infected. If Professor Ogwang is supported and his independence protected with international patents, more local inventors will emerge with new treatments and the next cash crop will no longer be coffee but medicinal plants in Africa. This is before mentioning our potential for health tourism, as we fly in covid patients for treatment because our local research will have developed over 12 competitively effective treatments made locally. Because the world which is vaccinated will be looking for treatments , now that British prime minister recently admired that “we must learn to live with getting infected by covid and stop trying to prevent infection a priority”.

When foreigners plan to visit Africa they take anti-malarials as a preventative measure against infection from malaria or against severe malaria. Is there a local study into which of the treatments for covid can be used as a preventative measure or one that reduces severe covid illness? This will reduce the need for trial vaccines as the only means of preventing severe illness due to covid infection, thus shedding light on Africa’s independence from global health colonialism. This strategy would help health policy become a vehicle for economic innovation and export of health products. Govt health officials need to seen as advocated for local expansion of treatment solutions for economic revival, instead of promoting economic dependence on foreign vaccines which strip away our economic benefit of health policy investment. Govt health officials may never be held accountable for the trial vaccine side effects on less than 300,000 people, but they will be held accountable for effects of vaccines on more than one million people because in such a case of scaling up its no longer for trial purposes but they have confirmed and recommended the vaccine as the best solution available based on their expertise and office powers entrusted to them. Govt health officials may never be held responsible for people getting infected by covid due to SOP gaps, but could be held responsible for lack of free testing kits, shortage of hospital beds, lack of oxygen and lack of free treatment medicines in the smallest village clinic. Such focus on building local capacity to treat covid which is curable, also offers economic value of building local potential to become a leading treatment center in the region for health services exports to wealthy patients around the world.

Ministry of Health officials and National Covid Taskforce will soon be held personally responsible for the outcome of their advice, recommendations and foreign agendas promoted in favor of trial vaccines on more than a million of the population. You still dont know the long term effects of the trial vaccine but are recommending that it is scaled up for the entire population. Health experts have deliberately not advocated for more hospital beds, neither for free testing and neither for free treatment in every village, which is possible within our means as a nation since march 2020 to date. Infact when given money for hospital beds and free treatment they diverted it as those tactfully seeking to increase number of death statistics for which they can be legally held accountable for. Investigating if there is any motive for health experts being silent on solutions for free treatment, local treatment innovations and free testing for covid patients would help to understanding incentives and agenda behind pushing for foreign vaccines.

The minister of Health also announced that it was not necessary to conduct a health test before getting covid vaccine, which undermines any effort to verify the actual effects of vaccines on the population.  Furthermore, instead of only telling the nation about daily number of deaths without details, they should focus on number of recoveries and what treatments have been working better than others for the last one and a half years. When reporting number deaths it is important to publish reports of how they died; what the underlying conditions of patients, whether or not they were vaccinated, how many had natural immunity from recovering from covid before, what treatments were being administered before death and actual service related causes of death in terms of whether it was due to untimely diagnosis, poor transport, lack of money, lack of treatment equipment, oxygen or medicine. Such data would show that Ministry of health is scientific and going somewhere to make public sacrifices count for hope of prosperous health system with future economic benefits.

There is no need for vaccines to be rolled out massively to more than a million people before 2-3 year studies are conducted on the first one million people who have been vaccinated.  During that one to three years of observing the vaccinated people should be tested, scanned frequently and data generated to report on short-term effects, long term effects on patients, on ability to prevent infection and what underlying health conditions respond negatively or positively to vaccines. This means that before anyone is vaccinated experimentally as guided by WHO, government should first test people comprehensively, counsel people and advise them of the risks involved in order to get the patient’s well informed consent, if the data gathered over time is going to make sense. There must be evidence of such counselling recorded for evidence purposes, that the candidate was aware of the vaccination risks.

Capacity to test and treat accurately is the single most viable objective for govt to pursue for health and economic sovereignty reasons. Focusing on vaccines only increases dependence as the need for a third and fourth vaccine jab is obvious because it is still experimental. By now Africa nations such as Uganda would have opened up multibillion factories for producing and continuous research on treatments for covid19. By now Africa should be a leading exporter of treatments which not only serve to cure patients but also serve as preventative or protective medication from severe illness with far better results than vaccines. If you compare the cost of vaccine to govt (may be $5 per unit) in loans versus cost of treatment ($3 basing on local covidex remedies) in cash you will discover that investing in local treatment is not only cheaper but self sustainable as it offers immunity for public health, saves lives from death and gives Africa a new competitive advantage in pharmaceutical exports and health services tourism where foreigners are flown in for treatment when in serious conditions from Europe, Asia or america. This is our only competitive advantage socially, economically, politically for sovereignty independence and for public health against covid and its future variants.

With an increase in hospital beds (which can be made locally), increase in capacity for every hospital to produce clinical oxygen on site (just a machine), Africa would be ready to receive patients in critical condition from Europe, Asia for to boost our health exports because we have built capacity to respond and treat people efficiently and effectively. Employment would have increased and the economy would have boomed because of increased agriculture on medicinal plants, transport sector boomed, hotels hosting foreign patients for health tourism and research sector in schools will boom if the economy stays open for people to access food and work freely would make western power envious about Africa for not having focused on vaccines. I am confident that investors who have missed out on vaccine market with WHO will want to invest in Uganda’s pharmaceutical industry from herbals if we protect it from monopoly by allowing free capitalism for local scientists and businessmen.

Author is a public policy adviser and consultant