Bad week for health sector as 5 medics die in accidents

What you need to know:

This is a massive blow for the health sector, which still needs a big number of experts to meet the ever rising demand for health services in the country.

Handeni. Five medics have perished in two separate road accidents in just two days, creating a human resource gap in the health sector.
On Thursday night, three medical practitioners of Handeni District Council in Tanga Region were killed after the vehicle in which they were travelling overturned at around 10pm at Taula Village, Kwedizinga Ward, in Handeni District.
The executive director of the Handeni District Council in Tanga Region, Mr William Makufwe, named the fallen civil servants as Lazaro Zabron, Mussa Muro and Lucas Lubacha, who were all employed by the council as doctors.
Just a day before the Handeni accident, two other medics who were travelling from Mbeya to Dar es Salaam died after their vehicle they were travelling in veered off the road.
The minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, named the deceased as Yazid Kachwamba, an epidemiologist and Florence Evarist Tairo from the ministry’s Emergency Preparedness Unit.
“This is a big blow to the families who have lost their loved ones, the ministry of health and the society at large (which depended on their services),’’ said Ms Mwalimu, commenting on the incident on her official Instagram page yesterday.
According to the Handeni executive director, Mr Makufwe, Lubacha and Muro were working at Mkata Health Centre while Zabron was at the Kabuku Health Centre.
“They were coming back from a seminar in Moshi Town where they boarded a Tanga-bound bus. They alighted at the Segera junction and then boarded a lorry, which was heading to their working stations. Unfortunately, the lorry overturned and killed them instantly,’’ he said.
Tanga Regional Police Commander (RPC) Edward Bukombe said the cause of the accident was yet to be identified.
“We are still making a follow-up on the matter to establish the cause of the accident because there was nobody who witnessed it. The driver of the vehicle is in a coma in hospital, but his turnboy has died too,” said Mr Bukombe.
The RPC added that two bodies of the dead health workers were preserved at the Handeni District Hospital and the other at Magunga Hospital in Korogwe District.
The 20-year-old driver, Mr Bakari Mohamed, was still unconscious after suffering serious injuries.
Meanwhile, Mr Makufwe said they were holding a meeting to see how they could ferry the bodies to their native homes for burial in cooperation with their relatives.