MAWENZI HOSPITAL

The Mawenzi Hospital is a state hospital situated in the town of Moshi. It has taken its name from one of the volcanic cones of Mount Kilimanjaro.

This is the hospital our team worked at for the entire month we were there, Monday-Friday 08:00 – 14:00. We were supposed to pay the hospital a fee in order to have an internship there, but instead we agreed to spend the same amount of money investing it in equipment the hospital needed. That way we ensured that no money from your donations would get lost in the corrupt system.

Since a nearby teaching hospital (KCMC) was built, the majority of government funding is directed towards KCMC, leaving the Mawenzi and St. Joseph’s hospitals starving of the most basic of resources, despite the fact that these two hospitals are of extreme significance to the community of Moshi and nearby villages. For instance, the personnel there sometimes have to sterilize tools using boiling water; they also lack soap.

Do we ever go to the hospital in the countries we live in wondering whether there is basic hygiene practice? No, we take it for granted.

The hospital is not one huge building but instead a collection of wards – each being a building of its own – with beautiful gardens in between them. I often sought relaxation and calmness walking through the gardens trying to alleviate the strong emotions triggered by the frenzy situations back in the wards.

The hospital is built-up with concrete and the healthcare professionals there have tremendous knowledge, albeit my initial assumptions that the hospital would be rundown with incompetent personnel.

The main problems, however, are (a) the lack of equipment which reflects in the fact that doctors use outdated methods of examination, diagnosis and treatment and (b) the non-existent medical knowledge of the public.

I give more insight about the hospital in the posts for each of the wards I was based in at the hospital: Paediatrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Psychiatry and HIV/AIDS.