Week 2, getting to know the system

Working together with Msitu wa Tembo dispensary is giving us the chance to understand better the problems that patients and health professionals have to face. One of the big issues is lack of medicines supplies. Both Isa and I spent time in the pharmacy of the dispensary, where the medicines advised by the doctor should be given without extra cost, apart from the TSH 2000 (€ 1) that patients pay for the consultation. We could see that many of them are not available and patients have to buy them in another place.

  

So, where is the problem? Why medicines at the dispensary aren’t enough? For answering these questions, first is understanding how the system works, or how it should normally work.

  

It seems it works like this: dispensary reports monthly the necessary medicines, to the District Medical Office (in Orkesment, capital of District of Simanjiro). They send the order to Medical Stores Department, an autonomous department of Tanzanian ministry of health. MSD sends the medicines straight to Msitu Wa Tembo dispensary.

There we were, heading Orkesment, in the middle of 5-hour dirt road drive. It was not what I expected from the capital of the District… We got the opportunity to talk to the District Medical Officer, a young doctor who spent as much time as necessary answering all our questions.

Even though each one blames the other part, we have identified an action that may work for improving the supplies: improving the reports sent by the dispensary. This is one of the objectives we can try to address during these weeks.

Actually, this planning activity has taken much time during last days. It is not that easy to set realistic goals, give a timeframe, and think about the necessary resources. There is always a lot to rethink about when you get to know more about the problems you want to address.

During this week, Isa had also time to prepare carefully her seminar on maternal health care for the next week. She will tell us soon! Conditions and timetable for the health promotion group were set up on Saturday 5^th of July, and seminars would start on following Tuesday.