Medical Camp

 

To the present day and despite all efforts of local and national authorities as well as the international community, many Tanzanians face challenges to access medical services in case of illness and disease. Dedicated to serving the community and addressing present challenges and needs, Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam Oyster Bay biannually organizes Medical Camps to bring basic quality health services to people who would otherwise not have easy access to them.

 

The Medical Camps are a one-day setup of medical facilities in areas of specific needs. Especially dwellers of rural or suburban villages either don’t have the financial opportunity to see a doctor if they are sick or they wait for it until their condition has deteriorated significantly. With the continuous provision of free medical services, our Club aims to address this gap.

 

The first Medical Camp was organized on March 12^th 2012 in the village of Kerege, near Bagamoyo. In its fifth year now, our Club was able to enlarge the project step by step and currently manages to organize two Camps per year – one in Kerege, Bagamoyo and one in Msasani Primary School in Dar es Salaam. At our last camp at Msasani Primary School in August 2017, we screened about 1,200 students for Malaria, HIV, Hypertension, Diabetes, ENT illnesses, eyesight, dental problems and chronic disease risk factors. Patients who could not be assisted on site or that had severe illnesses were given official referrals to partnering hospitals for further treatment. Participants also received counselling in terms of nutrition and exercise to prevent health risk factors caused by lifestyle. Above this, the camp offered a special pharmacy set up for free prescription medicines and offers glasses and sanitary pads for the participants.

 

 

Next to the primary goal of delivering medical services, the Medical Camps see to deliver also education concerning health and hygiene, the prevention of HIV and Malaria and issues about menstrual health. To excite and entertain the participants during their wait with partners specializing in education entertainment.

 

We believe in serving the community with what it needs the most. For our Medical Camps we therefore work closely with the communities and villages which benefit from the service and regularly assess and integrate their needs.

 

As an organization that primarily draws from the volunteering commitment of its members, we sometimes face restrictions in terms of time and financial resources. Hence we are very proud and thankful that we were able to cooperate with many supporters of our cause in the past. Diamond Trust Bank has continuously helped us with the organization of the camp from the very beginning and was also a reliant partner in terms of finances and volunteers in the 2017 Camps. ICAP at Columbia University has granted us huge support during the camps – especially in terms of HIV prevention and education.  Also, our affiliated Rotaract Clubs regularly support our camps with manpower and – more importantly – with medical services and education. We are proud that many other NGOs, national and local companies such as Pepsi, Sayona, Whitedent and Securex as well as many individuals support our cause. We are more than thankful for their dedication and assistance.

 

With doing all this we, however, realize, that the nub of the matter is not the Medical Camp itself, but in what happens afterwards. We therefore are working on and discussing ways of implementing more sustainable solutions in the future, together with the respective target communities and our partners.