TANZANIA – The Aga Khan Hospital, Dar es Salaam, in collaboration with Reconstructing Women International (RWI) and Muhimbili National Hospitals (MNH), has successfully performed free plastic and reconstructive surgery on 23 women across the country.
A consultant surgeon at the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Dr Aidan Njau, said that the surgery sought to restore physical function and enhance the quality of life of women and girls in the country.
“In doing so, these women are empowered to build their self-confidence and become productive members of their families and communities,” he said.
According to him, many women and girls are subjected to various serious harms, such as being burned by their spouses and relatives, which causes the majority of them to lose confidence; thus, the program has aided in body restoration. He added that since the programme started in 2016, 218 women and girls have benefited from it.
Dr Njau said that the surgery, led by a team of plastic surgeons from the United States, Canada, and Europe, worked closely with Tanzanian medical professionals to build local capacity for plastic reconstructive surgery.
MNH’s head of reconstructive and plastic surgery, Dr Edwin Mrema, said he was happy to help those who were most injured and did not know where to go.
“We give them an opportunity to receive help. It is also a fantastic opportunity for us in Tanzania to bring in experts from other countries to assist us with patient care, medical equipment, and medical suppliers for those procedures.”
“We built capacity for our fellow surgeons and nurses, and we made the whole thing free,” he explained.
MNH relocates its clinics
MUHIMBILI National Hospital (MNH) has relocated its two clinics to its state of art Mloganzila hospital in order to increase efficiency and provide better services to the patients.
According to MNH Executive Director Professor Mohammed Janabi, the two clinics which have been moved to Mloganzila are for neurology and cardiovascular.
“The hospital has modern equipment and offer specialised services including surgery …medical personnel including specialists are also available to attend all cases,” he said.
According to Prof. Janabi, outpatients seeking medical services at Mloganzila hospital were 11,182 in November up from 10,854 who reached the facility in September. The facility also attended 1,052 inpatients in November.
“I want to assure Tanzanians seeking medical and referral services are available at the hospital which is equipped with modern equipment, plus qualified and experienced health specialists,” he insisted.
With increasing activities at Mloganzila, Prof. Janabi explained that they were planning to consult transporters, especially Dar Rapid Transit Agency (DART) to increase frequency for ferrying passengers to facilitate movement to and from the health facility.
Mloganzila area has the potential of becoming a scientific city, where other health facilities in the country plan to relocate to the place with 3,500 hectares of land set aside by the government to cater for medical facilities.
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