A team of 19 Azerbaijani doctors from Turkey visited Azerbaijan to assess hospital capacity and train staff to boost the country’s reaction to the COVID-19 crisis.
As part of the Rapid Scale-up of Essential Capacities for COVID-19 (REACT-C19) project, the team of doctors shared expertise, encouraged innovative solutions including using digital platforms to speed up and reshape 12 of Azerbaijan’s hospitals’ response to the pandemic. In addition, the team helped set up triage systems, established infection-control committees, and trained health-care workers on essential skills.
The group included specialists in infectious diseases, internal medicine, pulmonology, anaesthesiology and reanimation.
The initiative was made possible by WHO’s efforts to facilitate collaboration between Azerbaijan and Turkey. WHO raised funds and organized logistics at a time when travel between countries was severely limited. The medical personnel were identified and trained within weeks and arrived in Baku on a special plane sent by the Azerbaijani Government.
The doctors spent a two-week period, referred to as a sprint, in each hospital before moving on to the next facility. They used the WHO Rapid Hospital Readiness Checklist to assess and support hospital staff in Azerbaijan. The tool allows hospitals to see how well they are performing against a set of 11 standardized elements.
The REACT-C19 project was implemented by WHO in partnership with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan, the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance and TABIB. Funding came from WHO COVID-19 funds, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Embassy in Baku.