Medical work
Coordinator | Jackson
Coordinator | Jackson
Book with Flex Option!
Choose new departure dates or change to a different volunteer program at no extra costs.
As a qualified doctor, nurse or midwife or as a medical student in these fields, you will take part in the everyday routine at the hospital by aiding the medical staff.
This volunteer program is especially suitable for:
Age 18+
Singles
Couples
Groups
50+
Daraja
Mbili Public Hospital is a newly established medical clinic located
only 15 minutes from the White House, where you as a volunteer will be
accommodated during your stay. Currently the clinic is consisting
of three main buildings with a few different departments, but due to
the big demand of medical attention in the neighborhood, an on-going
construction to expand the clinic is in process. As
mentioned, the clinic has a few different departments. As it is a big
burden in most of the African continent, infectious diseases is a big
part of any health facility here in Tanzania. In the Daraja Mbili Public
hospital the work usually consist in treating and examining patients
for HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, pneumonia, STD's (sexually transferred
diseases), typhoid fever, diarrhea and many others diseases. As the
patients typically have a hard time recalling the beginning and origin
of the symptoms, the work of diagnosing the diseases can be quite
difficult. Previous experience with these types of tropical infectious
diseases will therefore be a big advantage!
It is important to keep in mind, that working in a hospital in a developing country usually is very different from working in a hospital in a developed country. As the hospital has much fewer means to work with, alternative solutions are often part of treatment plans. We hope, that you as a volunteer can help contribute to with useful solutions, bringing new ideas for better hygiene or maybe come up with a better charts-system.
As you can never predict which patients will enter the hospital, you never really know what you will arrive to work and find, especially in a country like Tanzania who is facing a great deal of health related issues. As medical worker, you will assist and help the staff with basic assignments as cleaning burns, cuts and scrapes and to help proscribe and pass out medicine as well as more complicated assignments like assisting during delivery, help asses trauma patients suffering from traffic accidents, help treat victims of domestic abuse and assisting at surgeries. Due to the limited staff, you will also help guide and teach the patients how to prevent diseases and explain the treatment plan of current ones. We understand, that the language barrier might make communication difficult but since you will always be working along side with the permanent staff, they can help you out with translations.
Besides
infectious diseases, the hospital has an obstetric department with a
labor and delivery sections as well as a post-delivery section. Very few
women in Tanzania attend regular checkups during their pregnancy, and
the time of birth is often the first contact with a health facility. In
the obstetric department, the doctors and nurses try their best to
assist the many patients with the limited means they have available. The
hospital has only one delivery room with three beds next to each other,
which often can be occupied by women at the same time. After delivery,
the women are taken into recovery where the health personal attend to
them as best as they can. However, the limited means and personal
usually means that the women are sent home quite soon after delivery if
there is no acute complications to be seen. The
women attend regular checkups after birth, where the children are being
weighed and offered the appropriate vaccines. However, as the personal
is few and the patients are too many, the women are often waiting in
vain for hours only to be sent home in the end of the day with no
checkup.
For
the moment, the hospital are preparing an surgical room to perform the
most basic and acute operations, which they have referred to other
health facilities in the past. As you see as well in the picture, the
room is very basic and the personal is forced to make use of the few
means they have available. However, if you have surgical experience and
wish to expand your knowledge, you have the possibility in this
hospital. The
few departments we have mentioned are just few of the areas, the
facility is dealing with. As it is located in a poor area of Arusha, the
many thousand residents in the area around the hospital often seek help
and treatment here first. Therefore, patients suffering from traffic
accidents, burns, domestic abuse victims and patients suffering from
non-communicable diseases (diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome)
will appear daily and the work in the clinic will differ from day to
day.
As a medical worker, you will aide and assist the medical staff at the hospital in the different departments. Depending on wish and experience, the volunteers will be placed in a department that suits them and will be guided through the daily routines by qualified staff. In this placement we are looking for both qualified doctors, nurses and midwifes as well as students enrolled in any of these educations. However, we are looking for volunteers who are so far along in their education that they are able to actively take part in the treatment of patients. We are looking for volunteers, who are mature and can act on their own without putting themselves or the patients of any risk. At the same time, we are looking for volunteers who also are able to know their own limits of what they are capable of and who are wise enough to say no or when they are put in a situation beyond their knowledge.
It is important to keep in mind, that working in a hospital in a developing country usually is very different from working in a hospital in a developed country. As the hospital has much fewer means to work with, alternative solutions are often part of treatment plans. We hope, that you as a volunteer can help contribute to with useful solutions, bringing new ideas for better hygiene or maybe come up with a better charts-system.
As you can never predict which patients will enter the hospital, you never really know what you will arrive to work and find, especially in a country like Tanzania who is facing a great deal of health related issues. As medical worker, you will assist and help the staff with basic assignments as cleaning burns, cuts and scrapes and to help proscribe and pass out medicine as well as more complicated assignments like assisting during delivery, help asses trauma patients suffering from traffic accidents, help treat victims of domestic abuse and assisting at surgeries. Due to the limited staff, you will also help guide and teach the patients how to prevent diseases and explain the treatment plan of current ones. We understand, that the language barrier might make communication difficult but since you will always be working along side with the permanent staff, they can help you out with translations.
Activities
Intern abroad
#Hotspots
Safari
Nursing Internship
Arusha
Kilimanjaro
Midwifery Internship
Typical day
A typical day will usually begin 8:00 AM at the hospital, where you will be assigned your department or work area of the day. At this time, patients are already lined up by the dozens outside the hospital and from this time on you will work along side with the staff helping them the best you can. Around 10-11 AM there will often be time for a little break and a cup of tea to gain energy again, after which the work continues to lunch time. As part of our volunteer program, all three meals are included in the accommodation price and you can at this time return to the White House on foot to have your lunch. Depending on the individual agreement with the hospital and the volunteer's wishes, the volunteers can then return back to the hospital after lunchtime to work in the afternoon as well or they can take the afternoons off. If wished, the volunteers are welcome to join the staff in evening shifts and night shifts as well.
Free-time activities
In Arusha, there are plenty of free time activities to do, both multiple-day trips, one-day trips and afternoon activities. As Tanzania are one of the best places in the world to go on safari, there is plenty opportunity to do so during your placement. At the White House, we can help you customize the safari of your dreams and to make it fit your timetable. Depending on how many days, which parks (Arusha National Park, Serengeti, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorogoro Crater), camping or lodging and whether you wish to be part of a group or travel on a private safari we can help you arrange it all.
As well as safaris there is also plenty of possibility to hike our beautiful mountains, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru. Regarding both these mountain treks we can help you arrange everything and advise you about number of days, the different routes and so on.
If you are more in the mood for day-trips, there are tons to choose from. Hiking to Mt. Meru waterfall, visiting authentic Masai villages, swimming in natural hot springs, making coffee the hills of Mt. Kilimanjaro, visiting man-made underground caves and visiting banana plantations are just few of the suggestions, we can give you. All these can be arranged from the White House upon your arrival.
During the afternoons when you are off work, there's also plenty of things to do and see. In the warm weather here in Tanzania, it can be well
needed to cool down in a cold swimming pool. Most of the hotels in town
offers guests from outside the hotel to use the pool for a small fee.
This way you and your friends can get to relax after a day of work. If you are more adventurous and in the mood for an
activity, we recommend you to go to Lake Duluti just outside of Arusha,
rent a canoe and paddle around the lake for some hours while watching
the birds and monkeys along the shore. This relaxing experience will
help you gain energy for the rest of your work-week. In case if rainy weather, Arusha has one museum to
offer - the Museum of Nature and Wildlife. It doesn't take many hours to
walk through, but it can be a fun and different activity. Or you can
pay a visit to the Cultural Heritage Center, which is a gallery that has
many small shops to visit too.
Water Sports
Swimming
Sightseeing
Shopping/
Souvenirs
Souvenirs
Climbing
Safari/
Zoo
Zoo
Hiking
Riding
Requirements
In order to join the program you need to be at least 18 years old on the program start date. There might be exemptions if you can provide the permission of your legal guardian(s) or if your are accompanied by your parents.
You need to speak English (intermediate level)
required
Medicine, nursing, midwifery at University level
CV with picture and Certificate of qualification or education enrolment documents
No restrictions. Helping hands from all over the world are welcome.
Experience with tropical diseases will be an advantage.
Your helping hand will be required on
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
from
08:00
- 14:00
What's Included
Fees include:
- Voluntary Work in Tanzania
- Work permit in Tanzania
- Project fees
- Single or shared room with full board during entire stay
- Assistance from a local coordinator
- Orientation on your first day
- Airport pick up
- Any personal expenses, soft drinks, bottled water
- Any entrance fee during sightseeing and traveling
- Insurance
- Tourist visa fee
- Immunization
- Plane tickets
We provide our volunteers with airport pick-up - from both Kilimanjaro International Airport and Arusha Domestic Airport. Just provide us with your arrival detail - date, exact time, flight number - and we will make sure our driver is waiting outside for you with a sign of your name and a big smile.
During your stay you will be accommodated
in the coziest and most friendly hostel in Arusha, The White House of
Tanzania. Upon your arrival, you will meet our staff as well as the Mboje family, who runs and manages Fursa Projects Tanzania as well as the hostel. The family also lives on site once in Arusha, and there is therefore always staff around.
Dorm Room
Bedroom (Double)
Youth Hostel
The hostel is a newly renovated big house located in an area of Arusha called Njiro. It is approximately 15 minutes drive fromt the center of the city, but within 10 minutes walking from the house you will find a big compound called Njiro Complex. Here you will find ATMs, various restaurants, gym, cinema, supermarket and much more. From here, it is very easy to either find a taxi or to catch the local mini-buses - dalla-dalla's - and get to the center of Arusha.
All the rooms in the hostel are spacious and clean with their own private ensuite-bathrooms with hot shower. We have no single rooms, and as a volunteer you will most likely share a room with other volunteers and travelers. However, we find that this makes the experience much richer for the volunteers, as they get to know their fellow house-mates that much better.
The hostel have various common-areas both indoor and outdoor, where guests and volunteers relax and enjoy their evenings after a day full of adventure - either at their placements or on different trips. As mentioned in the section below, all three meals are included in your accommodation price and all guests and staff enjoy dinner together every night. This is usually a time of day, where guests and volunteers will share experiences and get new inspiration for activities for their days off.
Included in your accommodation price, you
will also find a good functioning WIFI at all times, so you can easily
communicate with your friends and family at home.
The three daily meals
included in your accommodation price is prepared from fresh groceries
everyday and served to our guests at the given mealtimes. Our chefs are
Tanzanian, which means that the meals usually consists of local dishes.
The breakfast consists of toasted bread with a side of eggs and fruits,
while the lunch and dinner are usually either a side of rice, potatoes
or pasta served with maharage (beans), choroko (lentils), mboga mboga
(vegetable stew), makande (beans and maize) or either beef or chicken
prepared in various ways.
In case of any allergies or intolerance or other special needs, feel free to let us know and we will try our best to come up with an alternative for you. As said earlier, all these meals are included in the price but our guests are free to leave the house and go out for dinner whenever - all we ask is that you let us know to prevent unnecessary food wastage.
In the White House we have a small bar that sells cold water, soda and beer for affordable prices. Drinks ARE NOT included in the accommodation fee, ONLY meals.
Good access at the project site
Visa, flights, travel insurance or vaccinations are NOT included in the program fees.
The nearest airport is Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) in Kilimanjaro. We assist you to find cheap flights to Tanzania.
Going abroad is an adventure and it is always best to be prepared. Sudden illness or injury, cancellation or theft - a travel insurance for Tanzania provides security and is a plus to have.
If you are intending to volunteer in Tanzania you should seek medical advice before starting your social journey. Check your required vaccinations for Tanzania.
Dates & Fees
NO CREDIT CARD FEES
Details on arrival
As hospital are open at all times, this project can be joined throughout the year. Daraja Mbili Hospital is in great need of assistance, which is why your work at this placement can begin at anytime that fits you. We will recommend that you arrive to Tanzania by the end of the week so that you have the weekend to settle in and get comfortable in the house and area before beginning your work the following Monday.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
3 - 12 weeks
Program fees
3 weeks
(min. stay)
$665
4 weeks
$770
5 weeks
$875
6 weeks
$980
7 weeks
$1,085
8 weeks
$1,190
12 weeks
(max. stay)
$1,610
Average fees
$178
/week
Please note that the above shown program fees are estimated.
Fursa Projects Tanzania
will let you know about the final price during your application process.
The deposit is simply to reserve your volunteer placement. Payments are handled by PayPal, our trusted global payment provider. If you don't have a PayPal account, you can also pay using a credit card.
Your final payment will be agreed with Fursa Projects Tanzania during the application process. Common solutions are either via bank transfer or a cash payment at the project site.
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application process
- including all necessary payments. Planning your next meaningful trip with Volunteer World gives you free access to our:
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All program fees are charged directly by Fursa Projects Tanzania.
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Medical work
As a qualified doctor, nurse or midwife or as a medical student in these fields, you will take part in the everyday routine at the hospital by aiding the medical staff.
$178/week
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