Author: MASATO MASATO, Zanzibar
AfricaPress-Tanzania: ZANZIBAR President Hussein Ali Mwinyi on Wednesday bitterly criticised hospital services offered at the Mnazi Mmoja Referral Hospital and ordered the management to rectify the situation within three months.
“Sincerely, I have been upset, this situation will never be left to persist,” President Mwinyi fumed during his impromptu tour of the facility adjacent to his Vuga-based office.
Himself a medical doctor, President Mwinyi blasted the hospital management of laxity, charging that many of the problems that haunt the facility were purely managerial.
Dr Mwinyi wondered why for instance the hospital, which has received over 3.1bn/- in the past two months, is facing acute shortage of medicines, laboratory equipment and other essential medical supplies and services.
“Before coming here, I checked to see the amount of money that had been disbursed to this hospital …you received 1.1bn/- in August and 2bn/- in September. Yet, the hospital has no medicines, this is unacceptable,” charged Dr Mwinyi.
He further decried corruption, which he said was rife in the national hospital, vowing to mercilessly deal with the dishonest medical professionals.
He as well reprimanded some medics with abusive language to patients, directing all employees to have visibly displayed badges with their names.
The president toured the hospital’s various departments, including Magnetic Resonance Imaging, X-Ray, Outpatient and Oxygen manufacturing, which he found in massive operational problems.
Rewinding his brief tour, the president pledged to return to the country’s major health facility specifically to talk to employees and hear their challenges and problems.
Earlier, President Mwinyi visited Kijangwani market in the central business district and annulled a three-day notice by Urban West Regional Commissioner Hassan Khatib to evict small traders from the area.
The president said the arbitrary eviction contradicted his election campaign pledges to create conductive business environment for the small traders.
“You cannot just evict them without offering an alternative area,” Dr Mwinyi said amid applause from the traders.
Meanwhile, President Mwinyi is this morning expected to unveil the new cabinet of the revolutionary government of Zanzibar, Director of Communication at State House Hassan Khatib Hassan announced here yesterday.
All eyes and ears will be glued to electronic media, which are expected to beam live the announcements of likely old and new faces in the government.
The new cabinet follows last month’s general election through which Zanzibaris endorsed Dr Mwinyi their eighth-phase president with a landslide victory of 76.27 per cent.
Already, Dr Mwinyi has appointed the Second Vice-President Hemed Suleiman Abdalla, Zanzibar Attorney General Dr Mwinyi Talib Haji, Zanzibar Ports Corporation Director General Nahaat Mohammed Mahfoudh and Secretary to the President Suleiman Ahmed Saleh.
