PM drums up private sector contribution in social services

DAR ES SALAAM: PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has sounded great contribution of the private sector in areas of social services provision to citizens.

Premier Majaliwa cited some of the areas in which the private sector’s contribution is evident including health, education, communication and water services. He said the sixth phase Government under President Samia Suluhu Hassan recognises the contribution of the private sector in improving welfare of the citizens.

Mr Majaliwa made the statement on Sunday on behalf of President Dr Samia at the official launching of the Saifee Hospital in Dar es Salaam, saying the private sector has been at the frontline in providing various services in the country.

However, the hospital had already been in operation since 2020 pending its official opening. Mr Majaliwa said the contribution of private sector is palpable in health, education, communication and water services provision.

On the health sector, he said, the government has been implementing the partnership in running some health centres with private investor. At the ceremony, Mr Majaliwa said he was satisfied with various health services being offered by the Saifee Hospital which are heart surgery, back and brain surgery by using modern medical technologies.

He noted that the hospital also offers bone transplant service.

“It’s my hope that the Saifee Institute will reduce patient referrals seeking treatment overseas and reduce cost incurred by citizens and the government at large, this investment will have profound benefits to the nation,” Mr Majaliwa said.

He said the Saifee Hospital, among others, of its kind, will contribute to making Tanzania become the hub for medical tourism in East Africa, Central and Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Islands. For his part, Minister for Health, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, said her docket will continue embracing creativity and collaboration with the private sector so as to improve medical services to all Tanzanians.

“In Tanzania there are about 12,000 health centres of which 60 per cent are owned by the government and the rest 40 per cent are run by the private sector,” Ms Mwalimu said.

In another development, Ms Mwalimu used the podium to urge citizens to observe balance diet intake and carry out physical exercises as precautionary measure on preventing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as heart diseases and diabetes.

Earlier, the Saifee Hospital’s Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Mr Murtaza Alibhai, said their hospital becomes the first private hospital in Tanzania to undertake heart surgery without cutting and opening the patient chest. He said the hospital aims to provide quality medical services at affordable cost for wellbeing of all citizens.

The hospital has a total of 370 employees of whom 350 are Tanzanians and only 20 are foreigners. Mr Alibhai hinted that their hospital in the near future will venture into kidney transplant.

He said the hospital, apart from admitting local patients; it has also been receiving foreign patients from different countries including Kenya, Malawi and Comoro Islands.