Samia leads primary healthcare gains
DODOMA: THE government’s continued commitment to strengthening the country’s health sector under President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s administration has begun yielding tangible results, with significant improvements noted at the primary healthcare level.
Minister of State in the President’s Office for Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG), Mr Mohammed Mchengerwa, made the remarks in Dodoma over the weekend during the Annual Meeting of Regional and Council Medical Officers.
He said the training programme developed for Regional and Council Medical Officers, coordinated by PORALG in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO), is evidence of the government’s strategic efforts to build leadership capacity and enhance healthcare supervision at all levels.
“This clearly demonstrates the direction of the sixth-phase government in managing the development of the health sector.
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It is a positive outcome and it reflects the value we place on our frontline health leaders,” Mr Mchengerwa noted. He further highlighted that the government, in partnership with UNICEF, has developed a national roadmap titled Implementation Research and Evidence-Informed Implementation Practice for Improved Primary Health Care (2025–2030) aimed at guiding health workers in conducting and utilising implementation research to address challenges and improve service delivery.
“The main objective of this roadmap is to equip primary healthcare workers with the ability to carry out practical research and apply findings in a way that improves the quality of services offered at the grassroots,” he said.
Highlighting key milestones achieved under the current administration, Mr Mchengerwa said that to date, Local Government Authorities (LGAs) oversee a total of 7,414 health facilities, comprising 6,258 dispensaries, 967 health centres and 189 districtdesignated hospitals.
“This is a clear indication of the sixth-phase government’s commitment, under the visionary leadership of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, to ensure health services reach every Tanzanian,” he emphasised.
In 2024 alone, outpatient department (OPD) visits at LGA-managed health facilities reached 39 million, accounting for 79 per cent of the total patient attendance across the country.
Additionally, over the past four years, a total of 932,269 women with obstetric complications have undergone safe surgical procedures at upgraded or newly constructed health centres.
Mr Mchengerwa also pointed out that the past four years have witnessed major infrastructure achievements, including the renovation of 48 long-standing hospitals, the construction of 87 emergency medical departments (EMDs), 30 intensive care units (ICUs) and 21 oxygen generation plants.
He added that for the 2024/2025 financial year, the government allocated an additional budget to support further expansion, including 30bn/- disbursed to Local Government Authorities for construction of strategic health centres in the first phase, while 23.5bn/- will support phase two.
An additional 17.36bn/- has been allocated for the completion of 346 dispensary structures across the country. “These figures affirm that primary healthcare continues to be the backbone of our national health system and a testament to the growing trust and reliability in services provided at our health facilities.”
