Dar ES SALAAM, Tanzania, November 3, 2009 – President Jakaya Kikwete delivered opening remarks at a ceremony for the newly renovated Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences Dental School (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam on November 2, the school’s 30th anniversary. The renovation, valued at nearly $2 million, of Tanzania’s only school of dentistry was made possible by in-kind support from a number of leading US dental equipment manufacturers and distributors.
In his opening remarks to the audience of more than 200 guests, the president said the government will aim to allocate more funding to the dental school in order to help sustain operations after the expected increase in enrollment in response to the renovations. He also said that Tanzania should aim to provide specialist dental services so that Tanzanians do not need to travel outside the country to receive treatment.
The East African country has a shortage of more than 200 dentists, leading to thousands of people going without treatment for dental maladies. Both the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and MCW, who have worked together on this joint initiative over the last three years, believe that by upgrading the school’s dental equipment and providing training, the school will be able to attract new faculty and train more dentists and, ultimately, provide better services to Tanzania’s citizens and people from the region.
“We have a very low number of dentists in the country due to lack of training facilities,” said Deputy Minister for Education and Vocational Training Gaudensia Kabaka at the event.
Edward Bergman, MCW co-founder and executive director, urged graduates of the MUHAS School of Density to stay in Tanzanian after their studies to provide services to the population instead of seeking work abroad.
“I call on the government to encourage medical experts to stay and offer services here as Tanzanians badly need their services, I also call on medical experts here to stay and offer their services to their people,” he said.
President Kikwete and Health and Social Welfare Minister David Mwakyusa have supported the project from the very beginning, when MUHAS and MOU signed a memorandum of understanding devoted to building a broad public–private partnership for helping Tanzania improve its oral healthcare services.
