More details about Tanzanian PhD student who died in India

The family of Tanzanian who died in India has described the son as “education hunter” whose ambition was to acquire a PhD before marriage.

Tanzanian national Emmanuel Ngowi died of Covid-19 complications at a government facility in the city of Vadodara while undergoing treatment, according to The Indian Express.

Ngowi, 34, had joined the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) course in Business Economics at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Vadodara on March 27, and tested positive for Covid-19 on April 21.

He experienced a sudden drop in oxygen levels and died on Monday, officials said. His family is now waiting for the body to arrive on Sunday before burials at his home village of Mwika Maring’a in Kilimanjaro Region.

“Emmanuel was a true fighter in education and he told me he wanted to complete his PhD before committing himself to other things including getting married or building a house,” Mr Ngowi, the father of Emmanuel told The Citizen over phone from Moshi yesterday.

“He was a true fighter because after finishing Form Six, he started a diploma course and later progressing to first and master’s degrees. He was now doing his PhD.”

“We expect his body on Sunday in Dar es Salaam and Moshi Cooperative University has organized transport to Moshi. He will be buried at Mwika Maring’a on Monday,” he said.

Emmanuel was the third and last-born in his family. “I lost my first born in 2018 and now Emmanuel has gone. I thank God for everything,” said Mr Ngowi.

According to Mr Ngowi, Emmanuel was an assistant lecturer at the Moshi Cooperative University.

According to Prof Dhanesh Patel, the director of international affairs at MS University, around 40 foreign national students underwent a Covid-19 test recently and three tested positive — one from Gambia and two from Tanzania.

Prof Patel told The Indian Express, “The student had arrived in India on March 27. He complained of some symptoms on April 21 but his Rapid Antigen Test came back negative. We then went for an RT-PCR test, which was positive.

“He was taken to SSG Hospital for treatment but since his SpO2 level was good, he was shifted to the Yagnapurush Complex at Atladara, which is an extension of the government hospitals.

"On April 26 morning, his oxygen level dropped all of a sudden and he was rushed to Gotri Hospital, where he was put on BiPAP and ventilatory support since the oxygen level was not stabilizing. He passed away on April 26 night.”

Prof Patel said although the family had initially given consent to bury the body in India, the sister later wrote to the Embassy of Tanzania in India to help bring his body back to his home country.

“We have been in touch with the family and we are carrying out all the procedures to be able to send the body back to Tanzania. We have obtained the police certificates and other necessary documents and the embassy will make arrangements to take the body back to his family,” Prof Patel said.