The government has said that the country faces shortage of surgeons to carry out laparoscopic surgery, in which operations are performed through small incisions as opposed to the larger incisions done in most hospitals in the country.
Dr Donan Mmbando the Chief Medical Officer from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) opening the first laparoscopic surgery workshop in Dar es Salaam at the weekend said the nation needs more surgeons and more nurses with different sets of skills including performing laparoscopic surgery.
“We also need highly qualified technicians to manage and maintain the costly and highly sophisticated equipments for laparoscopic surgery”, he said.
Speaking to The Guardian by telephone Director General and Consultant General – Surgery, Dr Muganyizi Kairuki confirmed that currently the country has not more than ten surgeons to perform the operation.
“Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre KCMC has two surgeons, Kairuki Hospital has two while a few others are at Muhimbili National Hospital, but all of them don’t exceed ten,” he said.
He noted that the three hospitals offer the service but the main challenge is the limited number of specialists.
Laparoscopy also known as minimally invasive surgery (MIS), bandaid or keyhole surgery is a modern technique in which operations in the abdomen are performed through small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) as opposed to the larger incisions needed in laparotomy.
According to Dr Mmbando there is currently a serious shortage of the required skills and equipment.
He added that Tanzania has been taking serious measures, such as expanding Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences to raise intake to 12,000 students from the current 2,400 to address the problem.
He praised Kairuki hospital for organising the training workshop.
More advanced workshops in laparoscopy training will be held in the near future, in addition to the one organised by the Kairuki hospital, Mmbando said.
Dr Kairuki added that Kairuki Hospital used to offer laparoscopic surgery 18 years ago, but had to stop until recently because of lack of experts and equipment. The hospital will now have the capacity to perform 8 laparoscopic surgeries per week.
He said not many patients know about this type of surgery, and that information about it has to be conveyed both to the public and to the medical fraternity.
“We hope to train people both in-house and abroad, and hopefully laparoscopic surgery will also be included in the curriculum of universities,” said Kairuki.
Since the view is more limited for the surgeon during laparoscopic surgery compared to open surgery, proper training for surgeons in this field is crucial, he said.
The workshop was attended by 200 medical experts from Namibia, Kenya, India, South Africa and Tanzania and among others trained them on more time-saving methods of surgery.
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