Benjamin Mkapa Hospital set to introduce surgery service next month

By LUDOVICK KAZOKA in Dodoma 

THE Dodoma-based Benjamin Mkapa Hospital (BMH) will next month introduce Laparoscopic surgery service. An operation performed in the abdomen through small incisions with the aid of a special camera.

BMH Managing Director, Dr Alphonse Chandika, said recently that the health service, which is also called minimally invasive surgery (MIS), was a new surgical technique. “Doctors perform the operation through small incisions in the human body,” said the BMH Managing Director during the launch of the new board of trustees of the BMH.

A key element in laparoscopic surgery is the use of a laparoscope, a long fibre optic cable system, which allows viewing of the affected area by snaking the cable from a more distant, but a more easily accessible location.

Dr Chandika said a team of doctors who went to India to sharpen their medical skills on MIS recently returned to Dodoma, pointing out one advantage of MIS was reduced pain due to smaller incisions and shorter recovery time.

He said BMH had also teamed up with the Dar es Salaam-based Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) to set up a cath-lab, saying the service was vital for quick diagnosis of heart complications when the hospital introduced cardiac care.

“This will help save time and costs of sending a patient to JKCI in Dar es Salaam for health services,” said the BMH Managing Director. Speaking at the event, the Minister for Health, Community Development, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, who graced the occasion, commended the hospital for great strides recorded within a short time since its inception.

She said the government planned to upgrade the hospital to national hospital level, saying the public hospital had helped the government to save millions of money for performing kidney transplant.