MOI seeks partner for spine injury centre

DODOMA: THE Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute (MOI) is planning to establish a specialised Spine Injuries Rehabilitation Centre at Mbweni in Dar es Salaam to provide comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation services to people with spinal injuries.

The centre, to be developed on a 10-acre plot owned by MOI, is expected to operate as a one-stop facility where patients will receive treatment and rehabilitation aimed at restoring their ability to resume normal lives.

MOI Executive Director, Ambassador Dr Mpoki Ulisubisya said on Tuesday in Dodoma that the project would be implemented through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), with the institute currently undertaking a feasibility study to determine the requirements and best approach for its implementation.

“We have a large 10-acre plot at Mbweni. We are now looking for a partner who can join us as the government so that we can build this centre,” Dr Ulisubisya said.

He said the planned facility was informed by the impact of spinal injuries, particularly cases involving fractures of the spine that leave patients with long-term complications requiring specialised treatment and rehabilitation.

Dr Ulisubisya said MOI was also expected to introduce specialised outpatient services at its Mwai Annex at Upanga in the near future to reduce congestion at the main facility, a move that would increase the institute’s capacity to attend to outpatients from 700 to 1,000 patients a day.

“Our capacity to see patients will increase from 700 to 1,000 a day, with some being attended at the Annex, Upanga while others remain at Muhimbili,” he said.

He said MOI was also taking specialised services closer to citizens, particularly those living far from Dar es Salaam, noting that the size of the country made it difficult for some patients referred to the institute to travel to the city.

Under the initiative, he said, MOI has started plans to establish services in several regions, beginning with Arusha, where the institute would collaborate with Jakaya Kikwete Medical University and the former Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre.

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The services would also be extended to Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Hospital at Msonge before reaching Kagera, Kigoma, Katavi, Rukwa, Njombe and Ruvuma.

“Why are we doing all this? We are taking services to citizens instead of waiting for them to come and seek them, so that everyone can benefit from the major development their government has invested in,” he said.

Dr Ulisubisya said the institute was continuing to introduce new specialised and super-specialised services using modern technologies to improve treatment outcomes and assured Tanzanians that MOI had developed capacity to provide orthopaedic and neurological services at a level comparable with leading institutions internationally.

He urged Tanzanians seeking specialised treatment to first consider services available at MOI before travelling abroad.

“Before deciding to seek services elsewhere, come and let us show you what can be done here and hear the testimonies of people who have been helped in this country,” he said.

Through regional outreach programmes, he said, the institute had attended to nearly 19,000 patients, with about 14,000 receiving clinical services and around 4,000 undergoing surgical procedures in their respective regions.