Specialist physician succumbs to Covid–19 Dr Nelson Okwanga

Sifelani Tsiko Agric, Environment & Innovations Editor
Prominent specialist physician Dr Nelson Okwanga has died.

He was 74.

Mr Christopher Kateera, a close relative, told The Herald that Dr Okwanga succumbed to Covid–19 yesterday after battling the disease for three weeks at a hospital in the capital.

“Dr Okwanga died last night around 10.30pm after suffering from Covid for nearly three weeks,” he said. “Before that, he had just returned from Uganda to mourn his mother who had just died.

“I’m so devastated by his death. He was like a father to me. He was very close to my family. His death has left a huge gap. It’s a sad loss to us and the patients that he served for many decades.”

Ms Acqueline Nyamande, a secretary at Dr Okwanga’s private clinic, said she was devastated by his death.

“He was a selfless and committed medical practitioner who cared for his patients so much,” she said. “I am so devastated by his death. It’s so painful. His death is coming after he had lost his wife, Esther, in 2019 and daughter Natasha in 2017.”

Dr Okwanga was born on April 2 in 1947 in Uganda. He graduated with a medical degree in 1974 at the University of Manchester in the UK.

He worked in various medical institutions in the UK before he came to Zimbabwe in 1983 to work as a specialist physician at Harare Central Hospital, now Sally Mugabe Central Hospital.

From 1984, he worked as a specialist physician at Parirenyatwa Hospital and taught at the University of Zimbabwe Medical School.

Dr Okwanga retired in April 2012 and operated a private surgery at West End Clinic in Harare, treating patients with disorders of the endocrine system such as diabetes and other conditions.
He is survived by his son Nigel.

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