Healthcare Workers in Usolanga

April 13, 2008

St. Luke’s Dispensary currently has one administrator, one nurse and one nursing officer (he acts as a nurse/doctor but only has qualifications for nursing) on staff. The dispensary is understaffed and has been lacking in healthcare workers since the departure of our clinical officer, then of Stella, our young nurse. Atu is now our only nurse and is also in charge of the RCH (Reproductive Child-Health Center). Our nursing officer, Gwivaha and Atu are always on call 24 hours a day and with all the responsibilities of the dispensary, has been working round the clock.

Since Tanzania, as most other African countries are in an immense lack for healthcare workers due to the Brain Drain (trained healthcare workers migrating to other richer countries) and just the inability to train workers at a rate fast enough to the increasing healthcare needs. The Tanzanian government is attracting healthcare workers with competitive pay and working hours. St. Luke’s Dispensary is a mission set up by the Anglican Church. Working for a mission dispensary, salary is always uncertain. Comparatively, the pay is lower and the working hours are longer. Living conditions in the village are tough and with the rush of malaria patients (it is high malaria season during from January to May), life is not easy for Atu and Gwivaha. There are many times when medicines are out of stock or, after trying all possible treatments, patients are sent to other clinics because we simply do not have the capacity to treat them.

Nevertheless, Atu and Gwivaha are exceptional people. From talking to them, I understood that they really are here just to serve the people of the village. I have never heard a single complaint coming from Atu or Gwivaha. Without this dispensary, villagers need to walk 3 hours to the nearest government dispensary for treatment. That is why Sacha and I are in the village doing the health promotion/prevention work. All the staffs are occupied by the work in the dispensary that there are no community outreach workers like us.

The above is a rough picture of life and work for our co-workers, our good friends here in Tanzania. We are a team and we are a family. Recently, I have become more concerned about our nurse, Atu.