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The Minister for Water, Prof Mark Mwandosya, smiles after an interview with the Daily News Business Editor, Mr Gabriel Nderumaki (right), at the Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad, India yesterday where he is recuperating after undergoing an operation a couple of weeks ago. Looking on (left) is the East African Bureau Chief for Tanzania, Mr Mike Mande. (Photo by Tanzania Daily News) |
The Minister for Water, Prof Mark Mwandosya who is admitted at Apollo Hospital here is upbeat about his current health condition and is looking to fly back home soon.
The minister, recuperating after a surgery a couple of weeks ago, said here yesterday that he sees the time before he checks out from the hospital shorter than the period he has covered so far since he was flown to the hospital in June.
”I am better now and I can walk without crutches or any other support. Currently, I do some exercises and also go to the park outside,” he said. He was talking to journalists covering the two-day India-Africa Business Partnership Summit who visited him at the hospital.
He thanked Tanzanians for the prayers and best wish messages. ‘I have sincerely been energized by the prayers and get-well-soon messages from my fellow countrymen and women,” he said, as his daughter, Sekela, studying in Birmingham in the UK who flew here last weekend to see his father, was busy taking photos.
The minister, wearing a broad smile, also said that he lost no hope battling for his life when a section of the Tanzanian press reported mid last month that he was dead. ”When people say that you are dead and in actual fact you are alive and kicking, then that is a good sign you will get well soon,” he joked, when responding to a question querying how he felt about the death rumours.
Explaining further about his illness, the soft-spoken and a bit-shy minister, further said that his neighbours in Tegeta area on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam were shocked when they heard the news that he was flown out of the country for further treatment.
”I had never before in my life been on a hospital bed. I do a lot exercise, jogging in the morning and evening, so when they heard that I was seriously sick, they were shocked because I always looked very strong,” he said. In another development, the Deputy Minister for Works, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, who is admitted at Apollo Hospital in Chennai located on the south-eastern coast of India, or a one-and-half-hour flight from here, is doing well.
He talked to the ‘Daily News’ over the phone from Chennai that he was still undergoing vigorous diagnostic tests before the doctors could establish the cause of his illness. ”I thank God I am strong and things are going very well since I arrived here,” he said.
He left the country last Sunday afternoon aboard a Qatar Airways flight after he was referred to India following a sharp deterioration of his health. Until his departure, it was unclear what was specifically ailing the journalist-turned-politician. The Kyela MP is suffering from a skin disease whose diagnosis has not been made public.
Last Friday, his wife, Linah, said her husband started feeling unwell three months ago, hinting that he had been diagnosed with Exfoliative dermatitis – a skin disorder – which physicians attribute to a drug reaction or some underlying malignancy.
Reports on the deterioration of Dr Mwakyembe’s health emerged last weekend when President Jakaya Kikwete visited him at his Kunduchi Mtongani home, a few kilometres from the city.
By GABRIEL NDERUMAKI, Tanzania Daily News
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