State Minister for Primary Healthcare Joyce Moriku, who is also Moyo District Woman Member of Parliament, will forever live to testify how she battled with poison that left her in intensive care unit for a record two months.
Last year in November, Minister Moriku fell ill and was admitted at Mulago National Referral Hospital and discharged but her condition worsened and she was subsequently admitted to Platinum Hospital to no avail. She was later airlifted to Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya where she was put in intensive care unit until she recovered.
Moriku reportedly suffered from alleged poisoning before developing lung complications that prompted her to be put on life support.
On Saturday, Moriku hosted her Thanksgiving ceremony in a mass led by Gulu Archdiocesan Prelate, His Grace John Baptist Odama. Moriku thanked President Museveni, Parliamentary Speaker Rebecca Kadaga and Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah and her fellow MPs for the overwhelming support during her sickness.
The first timer MP and minister broke her poison predicament in June and explained before MPs how she ‘died and resurrected.’
Upon her return from Agha Khan hospital, Moriku told fellow MPs to be custodians of each other after confirming that indeed doctors found foreign chemicals in her body.
“I thank God because I stand here as a living testimony, as a miracle, not a coffin standing before you to be prayed for. Indeed it’s true that I was sick for a while from November up to February. I have gone through a series of hospitals that include Platinum, Mulago, IHK and Aga Khan until I slipped into a coma for 6 weeks,” Moriku said.
She added, ”As an advice, let’s take care of ourselves, know what you eat, where you eat, and with whom you eat, know what you drink and where you drink. You can’t prove a friend until really its intimate friend, I can say that yes it started with issues of food poisoning but later on indeed it’s true that foreign elements were found in my body. All medical tests done from all the hospitals did not come up with a natural cause of illness.”
Moriku’s health has never returned to normal and currently wears eye glasses which was never the case. Her initially tender lips have now been replaced with dry lips, but the jolly minister has never lost her signature smile.