1.Shortage of doctors, of specialists in particular:

At the moment not more than 6 specialists are working in the hospital. If you compare this number to the large amount of patients, lack of medical care is inevitable. The turnover rate of doctors is very high. The cause may be that Ifakara lies in a remote region. It is very difficult to persuade doctors to move to the bush, far away from the capital. Low salaries are another problem.

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2. Drug supply by the government is not reliable.

Under normal circumstances, the hospital is provided by the government-run “Medical Department Store” in Dar es Salaam. But quite frequently, medicaments are not available at all or only with great delay. Therefore the hospital has to buy the necessary drugs in local, private pharmacies to a much higher price.

Drug dispensing in the wards

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3. Missing budget

There is hardly any budget to buy new gadgets and hospital equipment. Some devices are therefore outdated. As soon as they stop working they cannot be replaced by new ones.

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4. Uncertain water – and electricity supply:

The hospital has four water-drill-holes with groundwater pumps. In addition, the hospital is connected with the public electricity grid. Very often, sometimes for several hours or even days, power cuts occur.

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Department of premature infants

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Owing to all these grave problems, the efforts of our association centre on

1.Financing the training of doctors and specialists and upgrading of other personnel
2. Providing the hospital with medicaments and necessary equipment
3. Regular visits to the hospital by members of our association to support doctors and nurses and check equipment.

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