Hospitals

Our partnerships with a 365-bed Government Regional Hospital, a 170-bed District Hospital run by the church and several small Primary Healthcare Centres allow us to offer a wide range of placements across all disciplines. Tanzania is a particularly good choice for students with an interest in infectious diseases, obstetrics (including obstetric surgery) and orthopaedics.

Malaria, road traffic accidents, complications in pregnancy or childbirth and malnutrition are all common causes of admissions to hospitals in Iringa. Roughly a third of the 60-90 babies born each week at the Regional Hospital are delivered by Caesarian section, as home births are common in this part of Africa and mothers only tend to attend hospital if there are complications.

We have a great team of doctors and nurses serving as Gap Medics student mentors, including specialists in paediatrics, internal medicine, general and orthopaedic surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology. Midwifery placements are particularly popular in Tanzania, due to the high number of deliveries and C-sections and willingness of local staff and patients for students to be present. Both of our partner hospitals have active dentistry units, performing minor and major surgeries.

All our mentors, both on the medical and nursing side, take their turn in presenting our bespoke afternoon teaching sessions covering general clinical skills, malaria, TB, traditional medical practices, HIV public education and a range of other topics. The idea of these sessions is to provide a basis to help you understand and interpret what you see while shadowing doctors and nurses in the departments, and it’s also a great way to get to know your mentors better.