As a team, we are establishing the first ever Interventional Radiology (IR) training program in Tanzania, where there is currently no formally trained Interventional Radiologist for a country of 60 Million people.
Our training program provides a direct clinical service to the 50-100 Tanzanian patients treated during our 2 week trip, while at the same time provide hands-on training for the first generation of Tanzanian
Interventional Radiologists.
The model of providing in-country longitudinal specialized training in Radiology is unique, and could be scaled to other LMIC countries. We plan to publish and disseminate widely our lessons learned.
We plan to send 10 US-based IR faculty each year, for 20 weeks of in-country training; for 3 consecutive years. We hope this will establish a core Interventional Radiology faculty in Tanzania, who will train the
second cohort of Interventional Radiologists.
Tanzania is an east African country. we were a part of initiative called "Road to IR" which is developing interventional radiology in Muhimbili national hospital (MNH) in Dar-es-salam. There is no Interventional Radiology services for 60 million people. We brought supplies with us for procedures. there is a vast load of advance patients who need care. We performed about 25 procedures which included Per-cutaneous nephrostomy, ureteric stent placement, Per-cutaneous Trans-hepatic cholangiogram and stenting, drainages and biopsies. we placed the first port-a-catheter in Tanzania with the help of Oncologist. They did not have an advance Fluoro machine, just a C arm with limited capabilities. we connected with the authorities and showed them the possibilities. I gave a grand round introducing IR to the hospital. We trained the Radiology residents the IR techniques. We did morning rounds, Technical evaluation and follow up evaluation of patients along with the residents. The people there were amazing, they work tirelessly, in sub-optimal conditions and help out the patients. I really feel blessed to be a part of this initiative and hope they are on their way to independent IR soon. I believe this way we can help the people of Tanzania by inspiring new generation of IR physicians.
I thank Dox Foundation to help us out in this endeavor.
