Weill Bugando Implements New Policies to Prepare for COVID-19

On the ground in Tanzania, Dr. Rob Peck, Associate Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell, is working closely with colleagues to prepare Weill Bugando and the National Institute of Medical Research in Mwanza for COVID-19. As of the morning on March 27th, Tanzania had 13 confirmed cases. All the cases were in travelers and none were in Mwanza. Dr. Peck and his colleagues are working under the leadership and direction of the Tanzanian Ministry of Health.

Doctors at Weill Bugando are taking lessons learned thus far from the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States and adapting them for Tanzania. Numerous efforts are being led to prepare for increasing cases, including:

• Increasing oxygen supply for the hospital and developing guidelines for initiating and titrating oxygen.
• Creating dedicated COVID-19 wards.
• Implementing health screening for healthcare workers at the hospital entrance
• Reduce and ultimately eliminate hospital visitors.
• Conducting clinic visits by phone when possible.
• Stocking essential medications, including those thought to be effective for treating COVID-19.
• Creating guidelines for treatment of patients infected with COVID-19.
• Increasing the supply of masks and gloves and developing policies to restrict their use to those who need them.
• Protecting healthcare workers. This includes providing training to nurses in every ward about hand washing, appropriate use of masks and gloves and information about when to stay home from work.
• Keeping the hospital clean and implementing measures to ensure physical distancing is possible. This includes increasing the number of seats across the hospital and diligent cleaning of high touch surfaces.
• Creating systems for patient monitoring so clinical protocols can be adapted based on patient outcomes.

For high-risk patients including patients with HIV, Dr. Peck and his colleagues are taking steps to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection. For example, HIV-infected patients are receiving longer prescriptions of antiretroviral medications. These patients are also urged to communicate with physicians remotely whenever possible.

 Dr. Peck is also working with the National Institute of Medical Research in Mwanza with efforts to implement decentralized COVID-19 testing. Decentralized testing will allow Tanzania to identify cases and provide adequate care to those in need.

Caption: Wellness screenings taking place at the entrance to Weill Bugando