Christian and Mark travelled out to Tanzania once again to attend the Tanzania Surgical Association AGM & Scientific meeting (12-13th June) where they met up with Mugisha. This time the meeting was held in Morogoro which is 200km from Dar es Salaam, nestled within the Uluguru mountains. Morogoro is known for its agricultural university campus and the training of HeroRATS; rodents used to detect landmines and in the management of TB!
It was a very interesting programme and well attended, with specialist surgeons from throughout the country. There were varied talks, presentations and discussions which covered clinical, political, cultural and professional topics. Our attendance was warmly welcomed and it was great to see many old friends as well as make some anew. Beyond the opportunity for useful networking, it is a fantastic opportunity to get news of recent developments and to be involved with the current surgical narrative in Tanzania.
Christian gave a powerful talk on Human Factors Training which was very well received. As a topic that is gaining increasing interest in Tanzania, it was very timely. Mugisha was particularly pleased with it, aligning with his vision and forthcoming agenda for when he takes up office as President of the Medical Association of Tanzania in September. Mark also provided a project update highlighting the ongoing huge successes of the TNMHP / AMHSI. It was particularly pleasing to be able to provide quality data, greatly facilitated by the now established eRegistry.
On the Friday, there was time for Mugisha, Christian and Mark to visit some potential new sites for expansion of the TNMHP, including Morogoro Regional Referral hospital. It was then back to Dar es Salaam to ‘overnight’, before they flew the 1100km to Kigoma early on Sunday continuing TNMHP expansion.