The historic medical milestone achieved by Tanzania’s Muhimbili National Hospital should serve as a benchmark for medical excellence in the country and the East and Central Africa region.
The complex surgery of separating conjoined twins bound at the chest and abdomen lasted for seven hours, a defining moment for what lies ahead as Tanzania continues to bolster its medical capability.
Undoubtedly this major achievement plays into President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s bigger plan of making Tanzania a medical tourism destination, a strategy first coined by her predecessor John Magufuli who had invested heavily in modern health equipment and services to save foreign exchange earnings. This ambitious strategy comes with a host of costs and complexities in execution, but if well implemented elevates the nation’s status in the medical field.
It is therefore very exciting and promising that a rare surgery of such magnitude was able to be successfully done in Tanzania by a team comprised of a majority local doctors, with the help of a few expats from Ireland and Bahrain.
The idea of medical tourism is significant not only for the sheer purpose of attracting foreign patients, but the improved health facilities will also help Tanzanians seeking what is considered complicated or expensive medical assistance. For example, the surgery on the conjoined twins Neema and Rehema would’ve cost the family a staggering Sh120 million were they to seek the service outside Tanzania, but it cost Sh50 million which was covered by the government.
In 2020 the late President John Maguguli said the number of Tanzanian patients who go to seek medical services abroad had significantly dropped. This had followed investment into buying state-of-the-art health facilities and the government launching kidney transplant services at the Muhimbili National Hospital as well as modern diagnosis apparatus at Ocean Road Cancer Institute and Bugando Medical Centre.
Having modern health facilities will continue to attract foreign nationals from across East and Central African regions.
Research shows that between $15.5 billion and $72 billion is spent annually globally on medical tourism. This means that Tanzania stands a chance to have a slice of that global cake. All it requires are intentional efforts by the government to ensure the money being invested to improve the health sector is put to good use. A strict monitoring mechanism to see that set goals are met is imperative in this journey to make Tanzania a hub of medical services in the region.
Patients without borders
The idea of patients without borders is a global phenomenon and countries from different parts of the world are trying to leverage the first-rising demand for top quality and affordable medical services.
In order to keep everything in check, it has been suggested that the government should play smartly regulate medical tourism in order to avoid an overlap with the public health sector. This is critical because it is key in protecting the patient safety, economic growth, and health equity.
So, as Samia continues to ensure that Tanzania’s vision of building an unrivaled medical field is being pursued, health practitioners need to move at the same pace with the growing demand for modern health services both in public and private hospitals.
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