Usually considered one of the poorest regions in Tanzania, Singida is set for a new status as home to the country’s fifth, and possibly, largest, referral hospital after the Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam.
The Tsh120 million ($80 million) ultramodern hospital, whose maternity wing is complete, will be located in Mandewa ward.
According to Singida Regional Commissioner Dr Parseko Kone, equipment and other requirements for the maternity ward have already been acquired and will be installed soon.
Dr Kone said that Outreach Africa International is providing the hospital with equipment worth over Tsh400 million ($266,700).
Early this year, the government said it would seek other sources of funding rather than wait for the Tsh2 billion ($1.2 million) budget allocation to help in the construction of Singida regional hospital, which was to be upgraded to a referral hospital.
Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda had said this would be done to bring the completion of the project closer.
According to the Mr Pinda, the hospital, constructed in 1954 to serve 300,000 people, currently has to serve over one million people.
“There is a need to expand the hospital to cater for all central zone regions,” he said.
The hospital will be built on 300 acres of land demarcated for the referral hospital and will be built in phases. It will not only serve people in the region but all other places surrounding Singida.
It is expected to serve an estimated combined population of 5.6 million people from Singida and the neighbouring regions of Dodoma, Manyara, Shinyanga and Tabora.
The regional authority said construction of two more buildings will kick off later in the year.
Telemedicine
With the right kind of human resource to handle specialised jobs at the hospital still a problem in the country, the regional authorities are already working with a US NGO on a project to facilitate use of telemedicine in the treatment of patients.
Through telemedicine, the hospital will be able to utilise the services of specialist personnel from around the world.
In order to minimise shortage of trained staff, the referral hospital will have a college attached to it, working in collaboration with selected universities within the country and abroad for research.
The hospital will have an overall capacity to accommodate 1,000 patients and is expected to employ 1,100 health workers, with 100 of these being medical doctors, gynaecologists and surgeons when fully operational.
The East African