News & Events

Now VERY remote and not an easy journey ! There is no local transport.

The staff house still looks good. One very good medical officer and one nurse, plus village helpers. There are toilets for the clinic plus one for the staff. One small solar panel gives some light but not enough power.

It needs a permanent water supply to replace the rainwater harvesting (but SIM tanks in place) and there is no placenta pit. The new building is.....still being built.

There is a clinical officer, Mr Maguta, 2 nurse attendants (lovely ladies!) and 3 outreach workers. They see about half the pregnant mums in the village – some just don’t look for help and some go to Nzega. The clinic will soon be offering CTC support for people living with HIV.

Three strong new bikes for outreach work were purchased using funds sent previously that had got 'stuck' in the village account but were magically released !

Problems they see are:
Not enough space – no privacy for outpatients. No permanent water source – they use the local well, 2 km away. Transport problems – some mums deliver “on the way” to the clinic. The planned 'ambulance' will help here.

Positives: they save lives!

Jo Taylor
FUM Medical Liaison Officer

The clinic is well used, with good staff, but could do with some refurbishment. The doctor's house has a significant roof problem. There is a new delivery bed for births.

The group received a full and rather fierce looking Sung-Sungu greeting under “the tree”.

An elderly man was delighted to show us a photo of John Gillett (FUM's co-founder) under the same tree back in early ‘80s.

He then read a lovely speech for Priscilla Gillett, John's widow.

Jo Taylor
FUM Medical Liaison Officer

Both the clinic and the staff house were looking good, with toilets and 'bathrooms'.

There is an “acting medical officer” who came across as very good and also intelligent.

The rainwater harvesting is functioning well with a large concrete water tank (pictured above) + 2 SIM tanks by the staff house.

There were no sheets for the beds and no mosquito nets.

The village held a grand reception for the Cranbrook School group, with a cow, a goat and a chicken being cooked !

Mrs Taylor was presented with a goat that now has its home at Mwanhala FDC.

Jo Taylor
FUM Medical Liaison Officer

The child health care clinic is open 3 days a week and generally sees 100 children at each clinic.

There is an active vaccination programme running, though 85% of the illnesses seen is malaria, and the paediatric ward said the most common illness they see is complicated malaria.

The HIV clinic runs an active programme which works to prevent transfer of HIV from mother to child. Patients visit this clinic monthly and receive good and free medication, provided by the government. The HIV clinic is open 3 days a week and usually sees 60 – 70 patients each day. Patients are reliant on their relatives to provide them with food and some care. There are only 7 delivery beds in the maternity ward and this can be insufficient some nights, though the staff here were very friendly and positive. The operating theatre appeared basic but clean. The elective day for operations is Tuesday with only emergency operations being done on other days.

The X-ray department works daily, mostly chest X-rays checking for TB linked to HIV, pneumonia, and also for injuries, many from road traffic accidents, a knock-on effect from the faster traffic on the tarmac roads. The laundry has 3 brand new machines but usually only one is working, mostly due to the lack of staff. There is a real lack of funds to pay these workers and the hospital tends to rely on retired people working for a very low wage.

Jo Taylor
FUM Clinics Liaison Officer

The HIV clinic here is open 3 days a week and sees between 130 – 150 patients each day. Patients, both parents and children, come monthly for their checkups and medication and there is an active CTC programme in place.

The children’s ward admits 10 – 20 children daily and the most common diseases listed were anaemia, pneumonia and malaria, although in July malaria and diarrhoea were the most common.

The operating theatre does elective surgery 2 days a week with emergencies happening daily. The male and female adult wards were quiet, but mosquito nets were in evidence. The maternity ward was busier and there is also an outpatients department for antenatal care, mothers and babies. Here there is a programme of weighing, blood pressure monitoring, HIV testing and counselling, plus a good vaccination programme.

The dentist was busy and had received his box of equipment from UK dentist Paul Davies who visited the hospital and he was already using some of the medication. He was also keen to point out the new posters he had been able to display to boost oral hygiene.

Leah, shown with the dentist, was a UK medical student who did her Elective placement at the hospital.

The Nurse training Centre has recently re-opened and appears to be busy and successful. The laundry has two machines and two full time workers.

The plea here was for a solar panel to be provided to supply light for the maternity wards when the grid power fails. The generator does not supply power to this part of the hospital.

Nurses Support for Nzega Hospital

Five UK nurses spent time at the hospital and also raised funds for it Read more..

Jo Taylor
FUM Medical Liaison Officer

Prior to his transfer in December 2014 the then Principal Mr Mguba had introduced more modern courses in domestic electrical installation and computer skills, both more relevant for students seeking employment in the local economy.

The Acting Principal was keen to continue these courses but there are frequent problems due to the unreliable electricity supply to the college. The laptop computers supplied by FUM are well used and the battery packs conveniently take over when the power goes off. Internet access via a mobile dongle is slow and unreliable so is limited to sending and receiving emails.

The good quality sewing machines supplied by Workaid in 2014 are well used, with the treadle ones especially useful when the power goes off.

Tailoring students help develop their skills by making low cost uniforms for local primary school children. Both the students and the college benefit from the income generated.

The Principal, Mr Herman Nestory, arrived in 2014 and has shown much initiative in taking the college forward with self-funding initiatives. As well as the farming business there is now a college crèche.

The college was the first to produce modern bee-hives, more efficient and far more environmentally friendly than the traditional bark-ring style which kills the tree from which the bark came.

To complement the hives tailoring students at the college use the sewing machines (from a FUM partner Workaid in UK) to produce bee-keepers' outfits for sale.

As a medical student Nick learned of the possibility of having his Elective placement in Tanzania.

FUM Officers Sioux Horsfield and Dr Iain Chorlton advised Nick on what to expect and, once he had made the decision to go, helped him with travel arrangements within Tanzania.

Read Nick's Report of his 2013 Elective Placement

The clinic building is at last nearing completion.
Cranbrook School students have painted the inside of the building, leaving the builders to complete the external rendering and painting.

Hopefully the clinic will open in the not too distant future.

Jo Taylor
FUM Medical Liaison Officer