Aga Khan, Muhimbili hospitals conduct free reconstructive surgeries on 24 women

Dar es Salaam. The Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam in collaboration with the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), has performed free reconstructive surgery to 24 women and girls with deformities that resulted from violence, burns and accidents.
A part from the two hospitals, the surgeries were also carried out in collaboration with Reconstructing Women International (RWI).
The surgeries were done during the sixth camp at the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam which was launched from on November 29 and set to be completed on December 4, 2021.
Since its initiation in 2016 with surgeons from the United States, Canada and Europe working closely with Tanzanian medical professionals the health camp has performed 192 surgeries including breast cancer surgery at no cost.
Speaking to reporters on December 3, Dr Andrea Pusic from RWI lauded the Aga Khan hospital for its facilities that enabled such high level surgeries to take place successfully.
She also said that this year’s camp focused more on patients from outside the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam.
“I think one interesting thing is that we have focused on patients from outside Dar es Salaam, from the regions and brought them and operated on them, which required a lot of coordination but we were able to do this through Aga Khan Hospital,” she said.
A surgeon from the Aga Khan Hospital, Dr Aidan Njau, expressed his optimism for restoring hope and transforming lives of women and children while continuing to support and develop local expertise in reconstructive surgery.
“It is a great opportunity for us to be able to bring these donors from the US to Tanzania, because they help us not only in treatment but also in the capacity building of local medical professionals and in providing free medical care facilities,” he said.
In addition, Dr Njau said Ag Khan Hospital has gone a step further by transporting patients from other regions and provided them with accommodation and food throughout their treatment period.  
For his part, Dr Edwin Mrema, a surgeon from Muhimbili National Hospital, said they had successfully done surgeries on 24 patients, reaching out to those in need.
“We are relieved that we have been able to help people from low income strata and do not know where to go, so they had the opportunity to be helped,” he said.
Dr Mrema also said the partnership has opened opportunity for their postgraduate students from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (Muhas) to learn more about that particular type of surgery.