Mwinyi stresses making Tanzania medical tourism hub
ZANZIBAR President Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi has said it is the desire of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar and the Union Government to improve the health sector towards making Tanzania a hub of medical tourism in the region.
"Through improvement in the health sector, we want people from other countries to come to Tanzania to seek medical services," he noted. Dr Mwinyi expressed satisfaction that massive investments being undertaken by both the public and private sectors in provision of health services will make Tanzania a hub of medical tourism.
Dr Mwinyi hailed support from private sector players in the country in improving provision of social services to the people. Dr Mwinyi stated this on Monday when gracing the launching of Kairuki Green In vitro Fertilisation (IVF) facility which is located at Bunju 'A' Mianzini, in Kinondoni Municipality in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.
He cited Kairuki Memorial Hospital as among private health facilities in the country with high quality specialist services coupled with modern equipment with cutting-edge technology. Dr Mwinyi pointed to the fact that Kairuki Memorial Hospital was the first private health facility which started diagnosis services using modern equipment such as CT-Scan since the year 1992 and later introduced laparoscopy surgery in 1996.
"Kairuki Memorial Hospital was also the first private health facility to establish a private medical training school in the country," he explained. The Zanzibari President said the medical school has played a significant role in the nation by producing numerous medical practitioners of different specialties who are currently serving the country, other African countries and elsewhere in the world.
"And gain, today we are witnessing launching of Kairuki Green IVF which is a major milestone and revolution in improvement of health services in the country," Dr Mwinyi declared. Dr Mwinyi assured the management of Kairuki Memorial Hospital of maximum cooperation from both the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar and the Union Government to enable it to fulfil its ambition of improving health services locally and globally.
President Mwinyi went on to add that health services being provided by Kairuki Memorial Hospital are at par with the programmes of the Ministry of Health maternal and neo-natal health, the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and Covid-19.
Dr Mwinyi noted that provision of such services is a good example of public-private partnership and urged other private sector players to continue cooperating with the government in providing services to Tanzanians.
Speaking at the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer of Kairuki Green IVF, Dr Clementina Kairuki, said establishment of the facility is part of dreams of improving health services in Tanzania by the founder of Kairuki Memorial Hospital, Prof Hubert Kairuki, who passed away 24 years ago.
Dr Kairuki said the new facility is owned by Kairuki Health and Education Network (KHEN) and managed by Kairuki Memorial Hospital. "This facility has been established to support efforts by the government in improving health services and specifically to address infertility among Tanzanians," she explained.
According to Dr Kairuki, the total cost of the facility is 4.5bn/- including its construction as well as procurement of equipment and fitting of the laboratories and training of medical practitioners. The Kairuki Green In vitro Fertilisation (IVF) has the capacity to attend to about 1,000 patients per annum and it has so far received 600 patients with varying challenges.
Dr Kairuki explained further that out of the 600 patients who were received at the hospital, 45 of them, representing 7.5 per cent were fertilised out of whom 35 of them conceived. "The success rate of those who conceived is 70 per cent against the standard rate of between 30 and 50 per cent," she explained.
The medical practitioner noted further that two babies have so far been born through the procedures while more others are expected in the near future.
