Medics to go on medical mission to Tanzania
18.08.2020
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Justyna Szumicka from Krakow and Piotr Taborowski from Wejherowo will fly on a monthly medical mission to Tanzania. A neonatology nurse and a urologist will support the local staff of the hospital in Nyangao which admits patients from the poorest regions of Tanzania, i.e. Mtwara and Lindi.
The Polish Medical Mission is running a medical project in Tanzania in cooperation with the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Small village, great needs
Nyangao is a small village in the Lindi region, where St. Walburg’s Hospital is located – the only health care centre for the inhabitants of the Lindi and Mtwara regions, providing services to inhabitants of towns located within approx. 300 kilometres and of nearby Mozambique.
Most of the nurses in the maternity and neonatal departments of the hospital draw from the experience and skills gained during trainings. The task of the Polish nurse will be to provide specialist knowledge about neonatal care and intensive care for neonates at risk of perinatal death. In Tanzania, if a pregnant woman has access to maternity care, she has almost 80% more chances to give birth to a healthy baby.
‘This is my first mission. I made the decision to take part in the project without hesitation because its assumptions are close to my professional passion. I believe that such actions have a real impact on increasing the survival of neonates in difficult African conditions’,
— says Justyna Szumicka, a nurse who works at the University Hospital in Krakow.
Doctor wanted immediately
The main problem in Tanzania is the small number of specialists. There are just over 260 surgeons to approx. 57m inhabitants. There are no urologists at all. Hospitals in Tanzania face a lack of access to basic equipment and medicines and an increasing number of patients who are mainly victims of traffic accidents. On top of that, there is the coronavirus pandemic which is effectively disrupting Tanzania’s health care system.
Simple and effective aid
The PMM has built a new surgery department at the hospital in Nyangao where doctors, graduates of the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute from Dar es Salaam, have been performing operations for two years. ‘We are also creating appropriate conditions for learning at the nursing school by renovating the building and providing the necessary equipment. And we have provided midwives in the region with special backpacks
– adds Małgorzata Olasińska-Chart, Director of Humanitarian Aid Programmes at the PMM.