Tansania – Nyangao
Dauer: Auf Anfrage, Langzeiteinsatz erwünscht
Diese Stellenbeschreibung erreichte uns nur auf Englisch, per Email (s.u.) können auch Anfragen auf Deutsch beantwortet werden.
About Nyangao and the history of the hospital
Nyangao is a small town in a remote location in southern Tanzania about 80 km away from the Regional and District capital of Lindi. (https://www.google.de/maps/place/Nyangao,+Tansania/@10.4884447,38.7688422,9z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x18f261f29b940793:0x4d14b705525252f3!8m2!3d -10.3280255!4d39.3024611). The hospital was started as a dispensary in 1947 by Benedictine Missionary Sisters and has been developed into a proper hospital over the years. It belongs to the Catholic Diocese of Lindi. As it is the only hospital in the “Lindi rural”-District it is at the same time “Council designated Hospital”, supported substantially – but not sufficiently – by the Tanzanian government.
The hospital currently has about 200 beds. The total staff is roughly 210, however there is only one specialist surgeon, one gynaecologist (expected to start in Oct.) while the number of Medical Doctors varies between 5 and 10. It is providing all essential medical services for the poor rural peasant population of its surroundings but also to patients coming from far away. The annual report on its homepage (http://nyangaohospital.com/) shows the hospital to be a busy place with 70 000 outpatients, 1600 major operations and 2500 deliveries per year – just to quote the most important figures from a broad field of interventions. While for many years in the past a substantial – but slowly decreasing – number of qualified staff were Europeans meanwhile all essential positions are filled by well trained Tanzanians. Nevertheless the Diocese as well as the senior staff of the hospital feel it useful and helpful to have colleagues “from outside” for mutual exchange, for being kept abreast new developments in the medical field and for helping to slowly but continuously improve the quality of services. Therefore a number of experts visiting for several weeks every year support the place but also one or two young doctors on a long-term base. During the last four years this long term function has been filled by Volunteer Medical Doctors from the Netherlands, who each spent a period of 2 years working there.
As the current one will complete her contract by the end of 2020 we are looking for a suitable replacement, a new volunteer medical doctor who is able and willing to continue the work. It would be possible to live and work in Nyangao as a single person, a couple or as a family.
Profile and tasks
The living and working conditions demand a personality with high intrinsic motivation, flexibility and tolerance. Integration into a church facility should not be a problem. In terms of medical skills, the position requires the applicant
gynecology/obstetrics and/or pediatrics. Applicants moreover should have a substantial knowledge of medical care in a setting of very limited resources. Therefore they should have done a course in tropical medicine (or have the equivalent working experience).
The main task will be to contribute to stabilizing and further improving appropriate medical services for in- and outpatients in very close cooperation with the local staff. That includes to do all the necessary clinical work while at the same time trying to provide on-the-job-training of the local Assistant Medical Officer(s), Medical Assistants and Clinical Officers. As far as requested and as far as interest on the side of the candidate exists the task includes to advise and support the local hospital administration in different sectors of management (data collection on services, planning, staff development, quality management).
The specific task assigned to the new volunteer will partly depend on his/her experience and preferences, partly it will depend on the needs encountered during her/his stay. As there is a high fluctuation of medical doctors and other staff it is not possible to predict which functions s/he will need to fill. Therefore a high flexibility and willingness to adapt is a prerequisite for any applicant.
This applies not only to the professional but also to the personal field: while colleagues, staff, people generally are very friendly the professional cooperation is sometimes not easy. Different ideas, different working rhythms, different attitudes can lead to disappointments – normally soon overcome. But one should be aware of this potential problem and bring along a good amount of patience and a sound ability to bear with frustrations.
Payment, housing, coverage of expenses
As we Missionary Benedictine Sister are only a charity we cannot offer a “real” salary. We intend to provide a monthly allowance of € 800 (€ 1000 for a couple) which is supposed to cover ALL the expenses (including health insurance as well as retirement funds!). If there are children we are ready to slightly increase this allowance.
In addition housing with basic furniture and equipment will be provided free. We also plan to provide an initial lumpsum of € 300 (per adult) for personal expenses including furniture and appliances for the house.
We will also pay a lump sum of € 1000 (per adult) for the flight to and from Tanzania at the beginning of the contract and at its end. To enable the volunteer to visit home we pay an additional lumpsum of € 1000 (per adult) for travel expenses after the first year, second year etc. provided another year of contract follows. We would also cover the costs for the mandatory registration with the Medical Council of Tanganyika up to € 500 and the costs incurred to get a work- and residence permit up to a total of € 500 per adult. We would offer a two years contract – with the option of extension if both sides agree.
The chosen candidate would be expected to learn intensively Swahili as soon as it becomes clear that we agree on each other. As it is essential to speak Swahili reasonably well we would contribute € 600 (per adult) for a language training course in the country (before starting the work).
Application, contact and further information
If you are interested please provide your detailed CV together with a letter of motivation to Dr. Friedhelm Bernreiter at the following email-address: daktari_bern@aol.com
Sending your data includes permission that we confidentially share this information for discussion with the Diocese and the Hospital administration. We then would reply to you by mail and/or by phone and if we are interested we would invite you to a personal interview before any decision would be taken – on your and on our side. We are interested that you get the best possible information on working and living conditions and therefore would establish contact between you and the volunteers who have been working there before.
After having agreed we would appreciate if you learn more about the hospital, its setup and the local situation; therefore we would try to prepare you a little bit more by possibly arranging for further personal meetings with you if this would seem desirable and feasible. Please be aware that the contract with you would be made finally between the Catholic Diocese of Lindi and you.
This is an opportunity to live and work among extremely friendly people in a nice rural area of the “real” Africa. All former European volunteers came back satisfied having done meaningful medical work and enjoyed this period of their lives greatly.