The doctor who saw it coming

Dr Manoj Jadhav’s awareness and early response helped to avert a major Covid disaster in Ivory Coast

Everyone wants to be the hero of their own story. And in everyone’s story their actions are justifiable. But this story is about someone who was too much caught up in reality. It is hard to find any obvious flaw in his instincts. And it was his instincts that saved many lives from the deadly clutch of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The story unfolded in Ivory Coast or Côte d’Ivoire. The southern west African country got the virus around March 2020. And very soon, there was a sharp spike in infections. It was believed that a South African strain of the virus was wreaking havoc in Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Mauritania, Ghana, and Ivory Coast. Dr Manoj Jadhav, who was Afcons-appointed doctor for our marine project in Ivory Coast, faced the pandemic from a very close distance and acted intuitively.

“We were witnessing that some of our staff were complaining of fever or cough but had no symptoms of breathlessness, vomiting, diarrhoea, or blood in sputum. Even on examination, their Glasgow Coma score was fair, conscious, and cooperative. Their pulses were normal too,” Dr Jadhav recalled the lull before the storm.

He remembered how a rigger, who was a known diabetic, called in sick with fever and cough, but his vitals were absolutely normal. But sensing that something was not right, he immediately isolated him and put him on preliminary Covid-19 medication along with steam inhalation.

“When we sent him for CT Scan, we found out that he had pneumonia. It was immediately decided to send him to nearby Abidjan where the medical facility is better for further treatment. Since the patient was extremely anxious about what was going on, we counselled him and assured him of a positive outcome,” Dr Jadhav said.

His RTPCR test returned a Covid positive result and he was subsequently shifted to an ICU and ventilator facility in a Covid ward in Abidjan. He had to be put on oxygen as his saturation dropped to 90% ,and was on oxygen continuously for the next seven days.

“Antibiotics, Dexamethasone and low molecular Heparin were the main part of his treatment in hospital. After over two weeks, he was discharged and a repeat scan showed he had recovered from the lesions,” Dr Jadhav said.

World over it has been observed that one of the main challenges with Covid-19 is its mutations and how it affects patients differently. There is no single formula to treat a Covid positive patient, and, in many cases, there are no early symptoms at all.

“We were extremely lucky to detect early Hypoxia in the patient and treated the pneumonia with steroid and anticoagulant therapy that helped in his recovery.”

There were more cases of Covid-19 but the alertness and intuitive response of Dr Jadhav helped the site team to face the virus boldly. It gave the entire team confidence and hope that they could fend off the virus despite being in a location where the medical facility was not world class.

All Afcons’ doctors and first aiders have been on the frontline helping Covid positive patients at sites and at headquarters. The likes of Dr Jadhav make the medical fraternity proud for their remarkable awareness and pre-emptive response to one of the world’s most deadly viruses in a medically backward nation.

Does it not give him the right to be the hero of his story?





We express our gratitude for all Afcons' doctors who have been at the forefront of the Covid war. We thank them for their valiant efforts:

India - Dr Prafulla Thorat
India - Dr Sohail Goni
Ivory Coast - Dr Manoj Jadhav
Mozambique - Dr Lalji Patel
Ghana - Dr Nilesh Sawant
Mauritania - Dr Ravi Savaliya
Mauritius - Dr Hassan Dastagir, Dr Ashok Trivedi
Bangladesh - Dr Abdul Jaleel
Gabon - Dr Sanjay Bagade