Mount Meru Regional Hospital
PERSONAL DETAILS
| Name | Matthew Hauser |
ELECTIVE DETAILS
| Country | Tanzania | City | Arusha |
| Setting | Regional hospital | ||
| Local languages spoken | Swahili, local dialects | ||
| Dates of elective | December 2009 – January 2010 | ||
| Year level during elective | 5 | Expected level of knowledge | 4th year |
DETAILS OF INSTITUTION
| Name | Mount Meru Regional Hospital | Population served | |
| Size | 400 beds | ||
| Departments/specialties available | Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Anaesthetics, Orthopaedics, General Surgery, General Medicine, Infectious diseases | ||
| Further description | Provides a good feel for 3rd world medicine, lots of opportunities for hands on learning, but some of the senior doctors don’t teach very much | ||
| Student responsibilities | None | ||
| Teaching availability | Depends on the department, but mostly the teaching is sparse | ||
| Elective contact | Work the World | ||
| Application process | Arranged through a company called Work the World | ||
| Donations brought/grants | Cannulae, spinal needles, hand gel, alcohol swabs, bandages | ||
TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATION, FOOD, LEISURE AND EXPECTED COSTS
| Accommodation options | There are some youth hostels and hotels | |
| Accommodation details | We stayed at the Work the World house | the elective cost about $3,000, but included food, accommodation, transport to the airport and lots of support |
| Travel to location (including necessary documentation) | Flight via Dubai to Kenya, then connecting flight to Tanzania Yellow fever documentation required Visas for Kenya and Tanzania can be organised through the consulates here |
$3,000 |
| Transport within location | Around the cities there are Daladalas, which are mini vans that are used as buses and taxis for hire Around the country buses are slow, but very cheap Flights are available, but they are substantially more expensive than the buses |
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| Food allowances | Our food was organised through our program | $15-20/day if you were eating out all the time, Arusha is expensive compared to other Tanzanian cities |
| Social activities | Safaris Mountain climbing and hiking Orphanage visits Clubs and pubs |
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| Recommended vaccinations | Hep A Hep B Yellow Fever Typhoid |
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
| The good | The people we met were great and we spent a week in a Masaai village doing an outreach clinic, which was really interesting. |
| The bad | The hospital experience wasn’t amazing in terms of teaching. |
| Further descriptions, comments or advice | Talk to someone who’s been before and you can get a much better idea of what it’s like. Organise HIV PEP and do it early. Brett Ritchie and the other ID doctors at the RAH are very helpful. |
| For more information | http://www.worktheworld.co.uk for the company we went through |
