Urine from pregnant women now fetches reward in Dar es Salaam suburbs Urine pix

Summary

A 14-day study conducted by this newspaper has revealed that the collection of urine is done in great secrecy from pregnant women who are followed at home and persuaded to accept

By Janeth Jovin

To pee in the toilet or not, is a question that pregnant women in Dar es Salaam’s suburbs are faced with

right now after it emerged that  a certain company is interested in their urine.

They now have a choice especially with the fact that one can now earn something out of it, from groceries to cash.

According to Polai (Tz) CO LTD the company involved, urine from pregnant women can be used to treat certain human ailments.

A 14-day study conducted by this newspaper has revealed that the collection of urine is done in great secrecy from pregnant women who are followed at home and persuaded to accept.

The urine is collected and stored in small cans and then taken to a house in Manzese, before being sent to a foreign national who is said to be the owner of the company.

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Earlier, the reporter arrived at the company's offices in Mikocheni and met employees wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Polai (TZ) CO LTD.

The company's accountant, Rahmu Shuma admitted Polai is involved in collecting urine from pregnant women which is used in the manufacture of human medicine.

They now have two collection centres in Manzese and Yombo.

According to her they give pregnant women little plastic cans where they store the urine.

“We give them these cans in the evening (Manzese), pregnant women leave with them and have to return them in the morning, and that is because the urine should not stay 24 hours without being sent to the relevant area," said Shuma.

She said the hormones found in the urine are Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG), Human Menopausal Gonadotrophins (HMG) and Urokinase.

Shamu said the HCG collected is used in the production of drugs that treat all the problems associated with infertility.

Also, she said the hormone HMG produces therapeutic drugs for women with hormonal imbalance problems, thus leading to irregular menstruation or recurrent menstruation

 "Pregnant women that we target are those from two months. At the beginning we had a very difficult time for people to get them but after rewarding them with things like soap, rice, oil, flour and clothes, our job has become a bit easier," he said.

Shamu said their company wants to spread across the country but for now they are in Dar es Salaam so they believe they will be able to solve women’s problems.

The co-ordinator of the urine collection in the Manzese Mferejini area, Amri Kizyala said they started the work this year and in a day collect two to three barrels of 20 liters each of urine from pregnant women.

"The main thing we give to these women who donate their urine is clothes, sugar, rice and sometimes money," said Kizyala.

"At first when we started it was very difficult, the pregnant women did not understand us but at the end of each month the company has been bringing various items and giving them, then they believed ... now the task of getting urine has become much easier."