Nyakahanga Designated District Hospital
The hospital in Karagwe
The hospital is able to communicate with the rest of the world by road, water, air, post, telephone, radio call, fax, Internet and e-mail. In common with much of Tanzania however, travelling by road is challenging as most of the local roads are not tarmacked. During heavy rains roads are impassable. The hospital is 120 km away from Bukoba town where the Regional Hospital is located. As regards electronic communication, although the hospital has a rudimentary network and is connected to the Internet, connections are very slow.
The hospital is faced with big challenge in meeting the demand for water. The big still-made water reservoir has which was built in 1970 has worn out and had to be shut down. Now we have to pump water from the source down the valley directly to the hospital system. This resulted in massive electrical bills and risk of expensive machine (pumps) breakdown.
There are two other hospitals, both owned by Kayanga Catholic Diocese in Karagwe District.
Services
Nyakahanga hospital provides both curative and preventive services.Outpatient Department (OPD)
Inpatient Wards
Obstetric and Maternity Services
Spiritual services
The Hospital Chaplain works in collaboration with the Evangelist and is responsible for providing spiritual care to the patients and staff. Daily morning devotions for hospital staff were conducted as usual and the majority of staff attend these services.
Review of 2010
The AMREF specialist outreach programme was carried out as scheduled with the hospital receiving services from the following specialists: a Gynaecologist, a Urologist, a General Physician, a Paediatrician, a General Surgeon, and an ENT Surgeon. The hospital continued to receive funds from Government grants, although these were often late and smaller than expected. The Basket Fund programme improved the availability of drugs and other supplies.
The hospital is very grateful for support from the following organisations:
- Locally based partners such as The Rotary Club of Still Waters, The Rotary Club of Karagwe, ATEGRIS GmbH, DanMission and DMCDD.
- Partners from abroad who continued to support the hospital financially, materially and with visiting specialist personnel.
- Friends in the USA who committed themselves to sustain their cash contribution to the food and milk fund, which was started in 2006.
Challenges
Although the hospital has dealt with many of the challenges it faces, several remain as follows:- Financial pressures: In the year 2009/10 the financial gap was significant
- Insufficient staffing levels
- Inadequate drugs and medical supplies
- Poor infrastructure: Most of the buildings are old and do not provide enough space for either patients or staff
Priorities for 2011
Using the limited resources available, the hospital will continue its efforts to improve the quality of services and hospital performance as a whole.Infrastructure development
- To build a new water reservoir (with a capacity of 45,000 litres) expected to be partly supported by the Lottery Club of Oberhausen through ATEGRIS
- To install lightning protecting systems
- To conduct a cost analysis of services provided by the hospital
- To install a Hospital Information Management System (AfyaPro) so that patient management can be improved
- To improve the management of drug and medical materials (a project to be implemented together with Hochshule Neu-Ulm University – Germany)
History
Nyakahanga Designated District Hospital (DDH) started in 1912 as a small first aid unit headed by a local wound dresser. In 1953, the unit was expanded into a 60-bed hospital that was again extended to 200 beds in 1965, partly with Danida assistance. Swedish, German and Danish Lutheran churches have assisted the hospital with personnel, equipment and both minor and major improvements over the years.Nyakahanga started to serve as a District Hospital in 1972. In 1992, an agreement was signed to make it a Designated District Hospital and a board of Governors that draws members from the Government and ELCT Karagwe Diocese was formed. According to this agreement, ELCT Karagwe Diocese retains the hospital ownership.
For more detailed information about the hospital and the for all the most activity figures, please see
Nyakahanga hospital annual report 2010
or email the Doctor in Charge, Dr Andrew Charles Cesari doctor-nyakahanga@kad.or.tz
Text: Dr Andrew Charles Cesari
