Shaloom Mission

BUGANDO MEDICAL CENTRE

Last week I was invited by Sister Adelina Kokubonza to visit Bugando Medical Center. Sr. Adelina studied Accounting at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (USA) from 2007 - 2013. She was just assigned to the hospital in March 2013, in the Accounting office. I've included a little snippet from the hospital's website, just to give you a little information on the center.

Bugando Medical Center is a consultant and teaching hospital for the Lake and Western zones of Tanzania. Situated along the shores of Lake Victoria in Mwanza City, it has 900 beds and approximately 900 employees. It is a referral center for specialist care for six regions, including Mwanza, Mara, Kagera, Shinyanga, Tabora and Kigoma. It serves a population of approximately 13 million people.

Bugando Medical Center (BMC), formerly Bugando Consultant and Referral Hospital, was built by the Catholic Church from 1968-1971, and was officially opened by President Julius Nyerere in December, 1971. In 1972, the Tanzanian government nationalized the hospital and administered it from 1972-1985. In 1985, the hospital was handed back to the Tanzania Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Tanzania.

The hospital is a partnership with the Catholic Church, the Tanzania Government through the Ministry of Health, the Touch Foundation and other partners in making sure that services at BMC are of good quality and that we are training competent health professionals of tomorrow.

Within the grounds of the Medical Center is Bugando University College of Health Sciences. The university offers an undergraduate program in medicine.

Bugando Medical Center

After my tour of the hospital, Sr. Adelina and I walked to the university campus for lunch. It was interesting to see a different side of Mwanza. We ate hamburgers at the campus cafeteria; and they were pretty tasty! We waited about half an hour for our lunch to be served because they actually fry the hamburgers at the time they are ordered! What a concept! The burgers came wrapped in cellophane, so of course, I asked Sr. Adelina why. Apparently, there are big, black and white crows who feast on the leftovers of the students. If you leave your lunch unattended, even for a brief period of time, it will quickly get eaten by the crows. I witnessed it myself!

In September 1990, Pope John Paul II visited Bugando Medical Center. Pope John Paul II's tour during that time was focused on the sick of the world. Fr. Tony Gill, one of our S.M.A. priests, who currently resides here in Bwiru, was assigned to a parish in Shinyanga, Tanzania, during the time of the Pope's visit. Fr. Tony was able to com-celebrate during the mass with the Pope at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Epiphany in Mwanza. I was fortunate enough to have visited the Cathedral during my 2008 visit to Tanzania.