Tanzania hit by shortage of emergency medicine specialists
What you need to know:
This follows the revelation that the country has managed to produce only 45 specialists to date despite the existing demand for emergency services in the public health facilities in particular.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is facing a critical shortage of emergency physicians particularly in the District and Regional hospitals— making it difficult to save lives in the event of emergencies.
This follows the revelation that the country has only 45 specialists despite the rising demand for emergency services in hospitals.
“The government has continued to invest and encourage the development partners to support the expansion of Emergency Medicine in Tanzania,” said Dr Elias Kwesi from the health ministry during the Third Tanzania Conference on Emergency Medicine (TACEM) held in the city yesterday.
Dr Kwesi who serves as Director of Emergency Preparedness Response and Regional Cooperation further said the government through Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science (Muhas) will continue to train Masters level students so as to prepare them to be leaders in disseminating emergency care across the country.
“I encourage doctors and nurses from different regions and districts to enroll into various emergency medicine programmes, existing within the country and abroad,” added Dr Kwesi.
Dr Kwesi was the Chief Guest at the conference themed, “Increasing Access to Emergency Care in Tanzania: The Regionalization Agenda” organized by the Emergency Medicine Association of Tanzania (EMAT).
The event brought together over 180 delegates from the government, private sector and development partners.
This year’s TACEM conference seeks to come up with concrete solutions to complement the government efforts in improving the delivery of emergency services in Tanzania.
Speaking during the event TACEM Chair Dr Kilalo Mjema revealed that through the conference over 190 participants (health care providers of different cadres) were trained in the pre-conference workshops on emergency medicine.
The EMAT President Dr Hendry Sawe reiterated the association’s commitment to embark on in-service training of the healthcare providers including the doctors and nurses from the emergency medicine departments.
