ENT at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC)
KCMC is a large regional hospital in Moshi, located at the foot of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, with a catchment area of over 10 million inhabitants. Niels van Heerbeek, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, has helped developing the ENT department for 15 years, with the main objective to train people to continue providing ENT care independently.
Fifteen years ago, the only ENT physician was retiring and no ENT training program existed. There were 10-15 ENT doctors in Tanzania at the time, but they were all based in Dar es Salaam, a day's drive from Moshi.
Niels started setting up an ENT training program together with other colleagues and local health professionals. The first group of ENT doctors was trained, an outpatient clinic was established and the ENT department enforced with used items brought from the Netherlands, like OR microscopes, flexible scopes, and so on. Donations allowed purchase of new items.
The ENT department is now running entirely by local doctors
The department in Moshi now has 25 beds. The students have become teachers and currently, 10 ENT surgeons have been trained and 15 residents are in-training. The department has two fully operational theatres, five outpatient units, a temporal bone lab and two PhD-studies running.
Continued focus is on education, patient care and research.
Contribute, as a volunteer or financially (tax-deductible)?
Please contact Niels van Heerbeek at: