Tanzania Minister for Health, Community Development, Elderly and Children Dr. Dorothy Gwajima has urged the Kenya government to consider exploring medical tourism especially in the area of Cancer treatment.
Dr. Gwajima noted that with the facilities the country had there was no need for citizens within East Africa to seek medical attention in other foreign countries.
At the same time Dr. Gwajima noted that there was a need for closer collaboration between her country and Kenya in the area of Health in order to ease the burden of their citizens.
She made the remarks when she toured Kenyatta University Teaching, Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH).
She was accompanied by her Permanent Secretary Professor Abel Makubi, the Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr. Mercy Mwangangi, KUTRRH Chairperson Professor Olive Mugenda and Dr. Victor Njom among others.
The Tanzania Health Minister was taken round the Oncology department that house the Cancer centre and the presidential suites among other facilities.
Gwajima who was in the country for one day official visit had earlier held bilateral talks with her Kenyan counterpart Mr Mutahi Kagwe at his Afya House office and the Principal Secretary Susan Mochache.
During her guided tour of the hospital, Dr. Gwajima noted that with closer working ties between the two countries there will be no need to seek medical treatment abroad. “For instance, when our people are sick, they should comfortably come to Kenya and have their medical doctors fly here because the facilities are there instead of wasting so much money abroad which can benefit our two countries,” she added.
She noted that the countries have the potential and capacity to eliminate diseases that have bedeviled the region for years through closer collaboration.
“All of us want to leave a legacy when we are gone. It is up to every one of us to make sure we strive to deliver our best so that when we are gone, history will judge us favorably as having left a mark to be emulated,” she added.
By Wangari Ndirangu
