Tanzania government to build referral hospital in Chato district

Dodoma. The government said on Monday, January 20, 2020, that it was planning to build a referral hospital in Chato District, Geita Region.

This was revealed by the minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Children and the Elderly, Ms Ummy Mwalimu before a meeting for members of the Parliamentary Social Services and Community Development  Committee.

“Our researches have shown that the number of patients in Lake Zone regions is on the increase. We have therefore decided to build a referral hospital for the zone in Chato District,” she said.

She said with the Lake Zone population estimated at 15 million, the need for referral health facility became inevitable.

Tanzania’s Lake Zone comprises of all the regions surrounding Lake Victoria.

They are Geita, Simiyu, Shinyanga, Kagera, Mara and Mwanza.

Mwanza is the main city and people in the zone rely on Mwanza for their main social and economic activities, including referral health services.

Zonal referral hospitals in Tanzania include: Lugalo Military in Dar es Salaam which serves the eastern zone covering Dar es Salaam, Coast and Morogoro regions; Bugando Hospital in Mwanza which serves the entire Lake Zone; KCMC in Moshi serves as referral hospital in Northern Zone (Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Manyara and Tanga).

Others are: Mbeya which serves residents of Southern Highlands zone that includes Mbeya, Songwe, Rukwa, Katavi, Njombe and Iringa regions and Benjamin Mkapa in Dodoam which serves central zone residents in Dodoma, Singida and Tabora. Currently, the government is building a referral hospital at Mtwara that will serve Southern Zone residents in Mtwara, Lindi and Ruvuma regions.