HUU NI UJUMBE ALIOANDIKA MAREHEMU JANA!
Dear President, Hanif and team,
Our firm lost a founder and one of the best litigation counsel on the counsel. We have successfully fought cases with him in atleast 18 different foreign jurisdictions. He is no more.
Gaudiosus Ishengoma was more than a partner to me. He was my brother. He died of Coronavirus on Monday night (3 days ago).
I share my learnings and recommendations:
Started very slowly last week on Monday/Tuesday- just energy loss, slight weakness. Then escalated to coughing on Friday, loss of taste on Saturday and ultimately admitted on Sunday. My wife Shem has more precise details as she was handling his case on behalf of us all.
Upon arrival at AK Hospital on Sunday, they were not admitting patients. However, Ishengoma has done work for the hospital, many a times on pro bono cases. He had to wait a few hours, but he ultimately and thankfully got a bed after someone vacated it
His chest xray showed some infection
By Monday he was still weak, in the afternoon breathing problems started and by night he was gone. A 8 28pm whatsapp message on Monday (about 100 minutes before he died) from Ishengoma to Shem discloses that he likely knew he is not going to make it. There was confusion
Learnings (read carefully please)
It is very hard to assess when and when not to go to hospital. On one hand, normally, one should rush to the hospital. But the hospitals are all full of covid patients and you have a risk of getting it there. Hence for our health call centre, we need to be careful about potential liability and how to manage this. Shem and team are working with Hanif/Nawaz in the call centre and I have guided them what to do and how to do it
Drs all over the world are confused how to treat this virus. If you get it, and if it goes to your lungs (high chances for diabetic and oncology patients), then there is little chance to come out of it
Hospital is getting overwhelmed- its hard to blame them. Plus all senior doctors are now scared. Even the junior doctors are scared. Many Dar doctors are also unwell and at home. Coronavirus is terrorizing doctors. Don’t think you will get magic in the hospital. You wont. All hospitals are chaotic
When you are admitted, very hard to be able to get info from the hospital/patient on what is going on. This is an issue. When patients are going into critical condition, you will not know. This needs to be looked at. There is confusion everywhere.
Covid beds are full or filling up- AK Hospital has kindly kept 20 beds. Even if those beds are in the conference room, we must make sure that we get them. Running a quarantine centre is not going to be easy for us. The doctors are finding it difficult to handle the hospitals themselves, let alone us. For both liability and efficiency reasons, to the extent possible we should stay away from running any facility. Let AK hospital accommodate us to the extent possible, and/or run the quarantine centre. For upcountry, look for hospitals. Running this on our own is extremely difficult if not impossible. We will infect volunteers. Some of the worlds best trained doctors have contracted it after being trained for 10 years. You think training a volunteer for few hours will prevent it spreading- the answer is NO. We should be careful about our volunteers
Your family will not be allowed inside the hospital. You will be on your OWN. No one beside you. You die alone. Nothing anyone can do. It is also not recommended for anyone to be around you, although this is challengeable as if you have someone who can support you, assist you with breathing exercises etc, you might make it.
Symptoms- it is hard to tell when to go to hospital. Its not only fever or cough. Body aches, loss of energy (even if slow), unusual pain, fatigue, runny nose, sore throat, chills, loss of smell or taste, shaking, shortness of breath are all signs. Hospitals are full so self isolation seems to be the first line of treatment. Self test kits sadly not available so you just have to keep on monitoring. And of course be positive. The fatality rate is below 5% so 95% make it. However those with underlying conditions need to be EXTRA careful
Stay home- sadly, even some people in this group are not practicing that for many reasons.
Prevention is better than cure- Hanif, this is critical. People need to be reminded. I think you have done a great job. Keep on pumping messages in all media. The more information the better. Short effective messages
All hospitals are sending patients away- there is no room
Take full precaution and don’t underestimate this virus. It can hit any one of us
Maids at home- critical they either sleep there, or you get them picked and dropped. Highest risk category for those who are only home (don’t think you are 100% safe)
Delivery of food at home- you think you are safe. You must be joking. This is a high risk area as well. To be avoided. If not possible to avoid, then use gloves when receiving, remove packaging, change utensils and sanitize
I think President everyone should be told (now not a time to advise) to stay home. This virus virus is a killer. I think the option of staying at home is no longer an option. It must be ‘mandatory’
This will go on for a while- it is not going to end in few weeks. We are likely looking at months. Humanity is at war with this virus
Burial- taking body, where to bury, when to bury, how to bury all regulated. Max 5 to 10 people allowed. Very strict protocol with massive delays
Finally, if you get it, no one can help you. You will end up fighting alone. If you survive you will live to tell your tale. If you don’t, you are gone
Lets be careful my friends.
Hanif focus on prevention. These recipes and safety tips and other education tips that we are sending (not saying you shouldn’t send) are not getting to help attack the virus spread, The prevention messages will. Talk of prevention. Flood those messages all over. Make phone calls to ask people to stay home. Mukhi Kamdia sahebs should be fully involved in phone making and giving this one specific m- STAY HOME. We have no choice.
FAyaz
30 April 2020