Africa-Press – Tanzania. NEW dawn for Tanzania- Cuba relations as three more specialist doctors join the Dodoma-based Benjamin Mkapa Hospital (BMH) to enhance medical services to the 400-bed hospital for three years.
Executive Director of BMH, Dr Alphonce Chandika, told journalists here on Friday that the hospital considered areas which needed improvement so as to enhance service delivery.
“Why Cuba? We considered the historical background between Tanzania and Cuba including the founders of these two nations, Mwalimu Nyerere and Fidel Castro and decided to opt for the country,” said the Hospital’s Executive Director.
Cuban medics who joined the BMH are Dr Marlon Pila Bandera, (neurosurgeon specialist), Dr Reginaldo Sarria Duvergel,(Kidney Transplant Specialist), Dr Felipe Cabrera Nieves (gastroentologist specialist) and an Intensive Care Nurse, Niusy Martinez Matamoro.
Dr Chandika said, Dr Reginaldo Sarria Duvergel, will play a great role to enhance nephrology service at the Hospital due to his extensive experience in nephrology medical service.
“The specialist doctor has performed over 300 kidney transplant operations in Cuba. We are grateful to President Samia Suluhu Hassan for giving us the green light to enter into an agreement to work with Cuban medics,” he said.
On his part, Cuban Ambassador to Tanzania, Prof Lucas Domingo Polledo, said Cuban medics would share experience with their counterparts in Tanzania to enhance medical services.
“We are seeking to improve the quality of the medical services in Tanzania. We enjoy working as a team. We have other Cuban doctors at Muhimbili National Hospital, Bugando Hospital, Mbeya and Pemba (Zanzibar),” said the envoy.
Director of Medical Services in the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Wonanji Timothy, said following a major improvement by the government to public hospitals, the number of patients referred abroad has gone down.
“Previously, about 380 patients were referred abroad for medication. But the number has currently gone down to 43 patients last year,” he said.
The coming of Cuban medics to BMH follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) entered between Tanzania and Cuba earlier last year.
