Dar enhances medical tourism

DAR ES SALAAM: TANZANIA’S initiative to boost medical tourism has received fresh impetus after the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) opened another new branch that will exclusively deliver world-class services.

Located at Oysterbay, Dar es Salaam, the new branch is equipped with state-of-theart technology, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and staffed by both local and international medical professionals.

Speaking at the opening of the branch in Dar es Salaam yesterday JKCI Executive Director, Dr Peter Kisenge said that the institute is committed to providing high quality services to both Tanzanians and foreigners.

“This branch has high – tech equipment that will enable provision of high-quality services. We have doctors also from other countries including US, UK and China to serve the patients,” said Dr Kisenge.

Dr Kisenge said that the establishment of the facility has been made possible by the government through supporting the institute to invest accessible to all our citizens so they can witness how the government has invested in and contributed to the growth of the country’s health sector.

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She said that JKCI reached 19 regions in 2024 and succeeded in assisting 12,809 patients and those who needed super-specialist services were referred to JKCI-Upanga for further checkups and treatments.

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She urged the JKCI administration to go to neighbouring countries and see how they collaborate with them by helping them provide the super-specialised services to their patients to promote Tanzania’s health sector. In October last year, the government said that it had put up a robust investment for medical tourism in the country, whereas seven hospitals had been selected to implement the projects.

Deputy Minister for Health, Dr Godwin Mollel told the National Assembly that among the selected hospitals two were private medical facilities which include the Agakhan Hospital and Saifee Hospital Tanzania.

The deputy minister said that the government had invested heavily in the health sector by improving medical infrastructure, training medical personnel in the levels of specialist doctors. According to him, the government has so far selected seven hospitals which will implement medical tourism projects.

Public hospitals in the project include Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) and Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI). Others according to Dr Mollel are Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) and Benjamin Mkapa Hospital (BMH).