rafik yangu kanitumia email hii,nikaona sio vibaya nikaiweka jamvin;
If I take a trip down
memory lane, just a few years ago, the Aga Khan Hospital-Dsm (AKH) was one of,
if not the best hospital in whole of East Africa .
Notice how I have used the
word was in my previous sentence. Nowadays,
its a different story.
Firstly, their prices have sky-rocketed and patients
end up paying triple the amount they did just a year ago for the exact same
medical services. It seems like the hospitals policy is to increase their prices
exponentially every couple of months. The prices of medicines, especially
injectibles, in their pharmacy are exactly double of those available in the
town.
And Im not exaggerating in the least bit. Whether its Consultation fees
or Medical test fees, the prices are double or more of those charged by any
other hospital in Dar-es-salaam.
The only thing worse than their
exorbitantly high prices, are their services, which seem to be spiraling in the
opposite direction at an equally deadly pace. Theres normally only one nurse
and one doctor per ward. Nurses are a rarity in this hospital and if a patient
is lucky, he might be able to spot one nurse before she disappears again into
oblivion.
The AKH is nowadays more like a self-service supermarket. The patients
have to do everything by themselves because there never is any medical staff
around. People literally spend the whole day just waiting to get some sort of
medical attention even if its for a very minor ailment
The same applies for their
out-patient services. Visiting the
hospital after office hours or on holidays is a nightmare. You will find one solitary inexperienced doctor
in the out-patients with a long queue of patients waiting to be attended. The casualty charge for even a simple cough
or cold at night is ridiculously high.
The AKH doctors
behaviours can put even the most arrogant divas to shame. They arrive to work
late and leave early. They make patients, including children, wait
unnecessarily for hours while they are engaged in their own personal
activities. They are extremely rude. I personally saw a doctor verbally abuse
and throw a patient out of his office just because the patient was a few
minutes late for his appointment. And it is considered an absolute cardinal sin
to call up a doctor after office hours, even if it is a matter of life and
death. I wonder if any of these doctors have a conscience or even remember the
Hippocratic oath. All they care about is making money, period.
Which brings me to my next
point, that of Caesarian operations, also known as C-sections. One of my
relatives, who was waiting in the Ante-Natal Department, overheard other
patients saying that nowadays, the hospital does not wait for patents to go
through normal labor pain and immediately opt to perform a C- section. When I
asked some of my friends about this, they confirmed that this was indeed true
and they had personally experienced it. AKH perform more C-sections in a month
than most hospitals do in a year! If Im not mistaken, doctors worldwide avoid performing a C-Section unless
absolutely necessary. Could it be because such operations result in the
hospital and the Gynaecologist earning more money than a normal delivery?? I
wonder. This is Dr. Shafiqs Policy.
If Im not mistaken, then
His Highness, The Aga Khan established this faculty to provide the people of
Tanzania with adequate medical care and services at affordable prices. I doubt
if he is aware of what a terrible job the hospital administrators are doing of
running the place. The hospital is being grossly mismanaged and I implore
someone, anyone, to inform the Aga
Khan himself about the state of his hospital.
If I take a trip down
memory lane, just a few years ago, the Aga Khan Hospital-Dsm (AKH) was one of,
if not the best hospital in whole of East Africa .
Notice how I have used the
word was in my previous sentence. Nowadays,
its a different story.
Firstly, their prices have sky-rocketed and patients
end up paying triple the amount they did just a year ago for the exact same
medical services. It seems like the hospitals policy is to increase their prices
exponentially every couple of months. The prices of medicines, especially
injectibles, in their pharmacy are exactly double of those available in the
town.
And Im not exaggerating in the least bit. Whether its Consultation fees
or Medical test fees, the prices are double or more of those charged by any
other hospital in Dar-es-salaam.
The only thing worse than their
exorbitantly high prices, are their services, which seem to be spiraling in the
opposite direction at an equally deadly pace. Theres normally only one nurse
and one doctor per ward. Nurses are a rarity in this hospital and if a patient
is lucky, he might be able to spot one nurse before she disappears again into
oblivion.
The AKH is nowadays more like a self-service supermarket. The patients
have to do everything by themselves because there never is any medical staff
around. People literally spend the whole day just waiting to get some sort of
medical attention even if its for a very minor ailment
The same applies for their
out-patient services. Visiting the
hospital after office hours or on holidays is a nightmare. You will find one solitary inexperienced doctor
in the out-patients with a long queue of patients waiting to be attended. The casualty charge for even a simple cough
or cold at night is ridiculously high.
The AKH doctors
behaviours can put even the most arrogant divas to shame. They arrive to work
late and leave early. They make patients, including children, wait
unnecessarily for hours while they are engaged in their own personal
activities. They are extremely rude. I personally saw a doctor verbally abuse
and throw a patient out of his office just because the patient was a few
minutes late for his appointment. And it is considered an absolute cardinal sin
to call up a doctor after office hours, even if it is a matter of life and
death. I wonder if any of these doctors have a conscience or even remember the
Hippocratic oath. All they care about is making money, period.
Which brings me to my next
point, that of Caesarian operations, also known as C-sections. One of my
relatives, who was waiting in the Ante-Natal Department, overheard other
patients saying that nowadays, the hospital does not wait for patents to go
through normal labor pain and immediately opt to perform a C- section. When I
asked some of my friends about this, they confirmed that this was indeed true
and they had personally experienced it. AKH perform more C-sections in a month
than most hospitals do in a year! If Im not mistaken, doctors worldwide avoid performing a C-Section unless
absolutely necessary. Could it be because such operations result in the
hospital and the Gynaecologist earning more money than a normal delivery?? I
wonder. This is Dr. Shafiqs Policy.
If Im not mistaken, then
His Highness, The Aga Khan established this faculty to provide the people of
Tanzania with adequate medical care and services at affordable prices. I doubt
if he is aware of what a terrible job the hospital administrators are doing of
running the place. The hospital is being grossly mismanaged and I implore
someone, anyone, to inform the Aga
Khan himself about the state of his hospital.
