holygrail
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 24, 2012
- 1,303
- 598
Hapa alikuwa anampa ushauri mu America mwenzake aliyekuwa anakuja tz
Hi Paul,
You have asked the right person if you want to know about medical things and Tanzania, and having a baby in Tanzania. We have our 3 kids. ages 4, 3, and 1, We went back to the U.S 6 weeks before delivery and returned to Tanzania 6 weeks after our last was born.
I researched all possibilities of having a baby here- at a hospital, at home with my bedroom set up like a hospital, and having the baby in Kenya at the Nairobi Hospital. You will never get a clear picture of what the health care is Really like here from the internet. It is one of those things that you just have to see, and experience.
I am an American RN so i am a little more critical of the heath care in Tanzania, comparing the US to Tanzania, and I have had to learn to adjust my standards a lot.
I only do personal nurse work here and Tanzania , mostly education, with friends and personal contacts, I don't volunteer in any hospitals, but visit them on occasion. Some things that I have seen.
A lab technician drawing blood from someone, knowing that one of the blood test is for HIV, and he doesn't bother to put on a pair of gloves, even though they are in the glove box sitting next to him. A nurse giving a pt. a shot and then leaving the used syringe and needing laying around.
The Gov. hosp. in town which is cheaper for the normal TZ, that lives on less than $100 usd a month, is one of the most horrible places I have ever been, I can't even begin to describe it.
But there are private hospitals for the "richer" expats, and higher class of TZ citizens that can afford it. Sad really. :-( In Dar it is Aga Khan, in Arusha it is the Selian Lutheran Hospital. Health care cost are very cheap compared to America, but what is cheaper in cost is usually cheaper in quality also.
Really it all depends on your standard of care, are you American? Where are you moving? What type of job ?
I have spoken with a few expats that have delivered their babies at the Selian Lutheran Hospital and said it was wonderful, great care, so i think it really depends on what you expect. They have an operating room for emergencies, so does Aga Khan. They have some modern equipment. The facility looks new and is in good condition.
But for me, the quality of health care is not as good in the way of the knowledge of the nursing staff and Doctors. I have had a Dr. prescribe an antibiotic (Cipro) to my 2 yr. old. I double checked to see if this was right, and sure enough it could have caused his kidneys and liver to fail b/c you don't give Cipro to a child. Little things like that.
I have also heard of the nurse not removing the placenta after delivery and the mother bleeding out and dying. Most doctors don't deliver the babies here, it is the nurse or a midwife. Not trying to scare you, just wanted to emphasize that you need to educate yourself about childbirth, and double check what is being done.
Also little things that might be different is sharing the delivery room with another women, so the 2 of you are lying next to each other screaming 🙂 oh but their may be a sheet curtain between you.
Long story short.- It is not the same as America by any means, BUT if you have to, there are adequate places to have the baby and have things be just fine, just don't put your trust in ANYONE, the Dr. or the nurse, double check everything that they do. Don't let them intimidate you, for some reason some like to act as if they have all the answers weather they do or not.
Another option that some expats do is deliver in Kenya, at the Nairobi Hospital. they are suppose to have better quality health care, I have never been there, but friends have gone there for test on various things, and said their health care is better.
But when it comes to babies, it is hard to predict when to go to Kenya to get ready for the baby, and then hard to travel back home. And for us it was hard b/c we didn't want to leave or other 2 kids with someone for that long, while we waited for the delivery.
I asked an expat midwife, she is living here TZ, where should I have my baby?, I was ready for here to tell me to have it all natural at home, but instead she told me- Do Not have the baby at home, don't even have it in TZ, go to Kenya. An American Dr. friend who lives here, and has a clinic (but not one that delivers babies) said that it would be fine delivering here in TZ, but in a hospital not at home in case of an emergency.
That is what advice I got.
After all was said and done, we chose to go ahead and go back to the states to have the baby, family really wanted us there anyways. It worked out fine, no complications, and it would have probably been fine to deliver here in Tanzania.
Something else to consider is that pain in Tanzania patients is not treated the same as in American, including child birth pain. They don't do epidurals, and even if they did, there is no way that you could trust someone to stick something in your spinal cavity, not here, no way. But this can be a positive thing if she is wanting a more natural birth, and not even have the option of an epidural tempting her. 🙂
The bottom line is that you have to agree together on the best thing to do, and be confident in your decision and be able to deal with the "what if's " if that should happen, where ever you are. You would never want one of you to say, well if you wouldn't have made me .....
Now my prenatal care here was Wonderful. I went to a "backwoods" clinic near my home, the Dr. was great, and I even got to have an Ultrasound for $8 usd. You can have lab work done, and your Dr.s visit really cheap. Again just educate yourself, and you will be fine with prenatal care. The internet and google is my lifesaver here.
The only thing that I would caution is that she Doesn't take the anti-malaria medication while preg. Some prenatal Drs. say that you should take the malaria med while preg to prevent complications after delivery.
I would maybe recommend this for a Tanzania bush woman, but for someone that takes extra caution while preg, sleeps under a mosquito net, sprays the house/windows to keep the mosq out, etc. then the risk of the damage that the malaria med could do to the baby out weighs the risk of malaria complications.
Does all this make sense at all?
Sorry to ramble, I am trying to write a quick note before bed, but somehow my quick notes turns into mini books, with lots of typos.
Hi Paul,
You have asked the right person if you want to know about medical things and Tanzania, and having a baby in Tanzania. We have our 3 kids. ages 4, 3, and 1, We went back to the U.S 6 weeks before delivery and returned to Tanzania 6 weeks after our last was born.
I researched all possibilities of having a baby here- at a hospital, at home with my bedroom set up like a hospital, and having the baby in Kenya at the Nairobi Hospital. You will never get a clear picture of what the health care is Really like here from the internet. It is one of those things that you just have to see, and experience.
I am an American RN so i am a little more critical of the heath care in Tanzania, comparing the US to Tanzania, and I have had to learn to adjust my standards a lot.
I only do personal nurse work here and Tanzania , mostly education, with friends and personal contacts, I don't volunteer in any hospitals, but visit them on occasion. Some things that I have seen.
A lab technician drawing blood from someone, knowing that one of the blood test is for HIV, and he doesn't bother to put on a pair of gloves, even though they are in the glove box sitting next to him. A nurse giving a pt. a shot and then leaving the used syringe and needing laying around.
The Gov. hosp. in town which is cheaper for the normal TZ, that lives on less than $100 usd a month, is one of the most horrible places I have ever been, I can't even begin to describe it.
But there are private hospitals for the "richer" expats, and higher class of TZ citizens that can afford it. Sad really. :-( In Dar it is Aga Khan, in Arusha it is the Selian Lutheran Hospital. Health care cost are very cheap compared to America, but what is cheaper in cost is usually cheaper in quality also.
Really it all depends on your standard of care, are you American? Where are you moving? What type of job ?
I have spoken with a few expats that have delivered their babies at the Selian Lutheran Hospital and said it was wonderful, great care, so i think it really depends on what you expect. They have an operating room for emergencies, so does Aga Khan. They have some modern equipment. The facility looks new and is in good condition.
But for me, the quality of health care is not as good in the way of the knowledge of the nursing staff and Doctors. I have had a Dr. prescribe an antibiotic (Cipro) to my 2 yr. old. I double checked to see if this was right, and sure enough it could have caused his kidneys and liver to fail b/c you don't give Cipro to a child. Little things like that.
I have also heard of the nurse not removing the placenta after delivery and the mother bleeding out and dying. Most doctors don't deliver the babies here, it is the nurse or a midwife. Not trying to scare you, just wanted to emphasize that you need to educate yourself about childbirth, and double check what is being done.
Also little things that might be different is sharing the delivery room with another women, so the 2 of you are lying next to each other screaming 🙂 oh but their may be a sheet curtain between you.
Long story short.- It is not the same as America by any means, BUT if you have to, there are adequate places to have the baby and have things be just fine, just don't put your trust in ANYONE, the Dr. or the nurse, double check everything that they do. Don't let them intimidate you, for some reason some like to act as if they have all the answers weather they do or not.
Another option that some expats do is deliver in Kenya, at the Nairobi Hospital. they are suppose to have better quality health care, I have never been there, but friends have gone there for test on various things, and said their health care is better.
But when it comes to babies, it is hard to predict when to go to Kenya to get ready for the baby, and then hard to travel back home. And for us it was hard b/c we didn't want to leave or other 2 kids with someone for that long, while we waited for the delivery.
I asked an expat midwife, she is living here TZ, where should I have my baby?, I was ready for here to tell me to have it all natural at home, but instead she told me- Do Not have the baby at home, don't even have it in TZ, go to Kenya. An American Dr. friend who lives here, and has a clinic (but not one that delivers babies) said that it would be fine delivering here in TZ, but in a hospital not at home in case of an emergency.
That is what advice I got.
After all was said and done, we chose to go ahead and go back to the states to have the baby, family really wanted us there anyways. It worked out fine, no complications, and it would have probably been fine to deliver here in Tanzania.
Something else to consider is that pain in Tanzania patients is not treated the same as in American, including child birth pain. They don't do epidurals, and even if they did, there is no way that you could trust someone to stick something in your spinal cavity, not here, no way. But this can be a positive thing if she is wanting a more natural birth, and not even have the option of an epidural tempting her. 🙂
The bottom line is that you have to agree together on the best thing to do, and be confident in your decision and be able to deal with the "what if's " if that should happen, where ever you are. You would never want one of you to say, well if you wouldn't have made me .....
Now my prenatal care here was Wonderful. I went to a "backwoods" clinic near my home, the Dr. was great, and I even got to have an Ultrasound for $8 usd. You can have lab work done, and your Dr.s visit really cheap. Again just educate yourself, and you will be fine with prenatal care. The internet and google is my lifesaver here.
The only thing that I would caution is that she Doesn't take the anti-malaria medication while preg. Some prenatal Drs. say that you should take the malaria med while preg to prevent complications after delivery.
I would maybe recommend this for a Tanzania bush woman, but for someone that takes extra caution while preg, sleeps under a mosquito net, sprays the house/windows to keep the mosq out, etc. then the risk of the damage that the malaria med could do to the baby out weighs the risk of malaria complications.
Does all this make sense at all?
Sorry to ramble, I am trying to write a quick note before bed, but somehow my quick notes turns into mini books, with lots of typos.
