Muhimbili hospital to undergo massive infrastructure facelift
MUHIMBILI National Hospital (MNH) is set to undergo major infrastructure facelift by demolishing the current structures, replacing them with new ones, a project which is expected to cost more than 600bn/- upon completion.
According to the 2023/2024 financial plan, the hospital will replace the old buildings with ultramodern structures.
Speaking in Dodoma yesterday MNH Executive Director, Professor Mohamed Janabi said that the plan will be implemented in phases in collaboration with Exim Bank, noting that currently the plan is at feasibility study stage.
Prof Janabi said that the buildings, which will be constructed, will have the same size as the old ones but will be modernised to improve provision of services.
“We are not renovating, we are building a new hospital, we are going to demolish the buildings in phases until we complete all of them … we are going to leave only one building to preserve history,” Prof Janabi said.
He noted that in this financial year, MNH also expects to continue providing specialised and super specialised health services, including the In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) services.
“We hope to start delivering this service here at MNH before the end of this year, the doctors are ready, the building is there and the equipment have been bought, what we are waiting for is the installation of these machines to be completed,” he said.
He added that when the hospital starts offering the service it will use its local specialists and others who are experienced in the area so that they can train local doctors.
Prof Janabi added that MNH will also continue to provide kidney transplant services, bone-marrow transplant, including providing hearing aids (cochlear) implant services, strengthening diagnostic services and continuing to manage human and financial resources.
The MNH has been allocated 170.6 bn/- in this financial year, of which 142.7 bn/- is for the day-to-day operations and 27.8 bn/- is for development projects.
Commenting on the implementation of the financial plan of the previous year, Prof Janabi said MNH has successfully strengthened accountability of health services providers in all areas, including ensuring timely delivery of services and installation of more surveillance cameras especially in laboratories.
He said that MNH has also succeeded in ensuring medicines and medical supplies are available all the time. In the financial year ending June 2023, the availability of medicines was 95 per cent. A total of 17.3 bn/- was spent in purchasing drugs.
Prof Janabi added that in the 2022/2023 period MNH also succeeded in reducing staff nuisance and improving their welfare such as payment of allowances and other claims.
“We started paying staff allowances on 15th of every month, we have been paying extra duty allowances, on call allowances and other allowances. Last financial year we spent about 14 bn/- on allowances, and we also managed to clear the debt of 22bn/- to our medical suppliers,” he said.
He explained that MNH was also committed to continue providing transplant services and cut referrals abroad, noting that 59 patients received cochlear implants since the introduction of the service at the national hospital.
MNH has also successfully reduced overcrowding at the hospital with the aim of improving services where the number of people coming to see patients has been reduced. Currently one patient is seen by two people in the morning, one person in the afternoon and two in the evening.
