Dodoma — THE Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr Seif Shekalaghe, has congratulated Benjamin Mkapa Hospital (BMH) for completing the construction project of a kidney transplant center that cost 1.5bn/- and promised BMH to obtain medical equipment to provide services at the center.

Dr Shekalaghe said this when he went on a working visit to the hospital to see the state of service delivery and review the implementation of development projects.

"I congratulate Benjamini Mkapa Hospital for completing the construction of this center through the hospital's internal revenue funds, the Ministry of Health will ensure the availability of medical equipment in the hospital," he emphasized.

Adding, he said: "This is an example of a hospital using its own internal funds to build such an infrastructure for kidney transplantation, I ask the hospital to submit a request for budget requirements for medical equipment.

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He said the Tanzanian government's aim is to enable service delivery projects to start providing services immediately after completion without delay.

And the Executive Director of BMH, Prof Abel Makubi has explained to the Secretary General that the budget requirements for the center is about 2.3bn/- and that the project is a short-term plan for the provision of kidney services.

"This center is short-term in providing kidney services but the hospital has already received donors from the TOKUSHIKAI Corporation in Japan to build a center of excellence for kidney treatment in the country worth 28bn/-," he said.

He said the construction of the building of the Center of Excellence will begin this year and when completed, in addition to providing solutions to kidney diseases, it will help in the training of kidney specialists and research issues on kidney diseases in the country and abroad.