The "Mwembeladu Hospital" is a public clinic in Zanzibar, specialised in obstetrics and midwifery, including care of women and their children during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.

The hospital has a prenatal (ante-natal) station and a maternity unit, including post-natal care. The prenatal unit includes pregnancy counselling, advice on family planning and HIV testing, apart from ultrasonic and preventative medical check-ups. The maternity unit consists of examination rooms, recovery rooms and a brand new surgery/operating theatre which is fully equipped with modern medical supplies, but which has not yet been officially opened. For this reason, pregnancy-related surgery is currently carried out at Zanzibar's main hospital, the "Mnazi Mmoja". The in-patient care after obstetric surgery however takes place at Mwembeladu.

In the quarter April - June 2010, 1390 women had been admitted to Mwembeladu hospital and 1398 deliverances have been registered, out of which 1339 took place without any complications. 704 newborns were female, 679 male. There were 23 multiple births. 102 mothers were over 35 years old, 35 under 20 years. 91 newborns weighed less than 2,5 kg. 3 of 85 tested mothers were HIV-positive; the newborns of these women were HIV-positive too.

At Mwembeladu, clinical electives and internships in the field of obstetrics are possible. As for the main Mnazi Mmoja hospital, a weekly contribution to the hospital applies to foreign medical or nursing students. It is also possible to combine electives at Mnazi Mmoja and Mwembeladu. 

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Location: Zanzibar, Tanzania

Duration: For qualified physicians: Upon mutual agreement; for students: 3 weeks to 12 months.

Specific qualification required: Yes/No

If there are vacant elective positions, also internships are possible for those who have not yet started their medical studies/professional training.

Costs: The official weekly fee which is charged by the government hospitals to foreign elective students and volunteers currently is 75 US$. This amount has to be paid in cash directly to the hospital. A big portion of the running costs of the hospitals are met by these payments of foreign elective students. For professionals, the Health Ministry will decide in each case whether a fee will be charged or not.

Because of the bureaucracy and time-consuming communication  that we have to do with the government hospitals and ministry, it is obligatory for elective students to book our trouble-free package. As the effort for arranging the right permits will vary depending on the duration of your elective, the prices for the trouble-free package are as follows:

Clinical elective at government hospitals under 3 months: 250 Euro; clinical elective at government hospitals of more than 3 months: 500 Euro. Professionals at Mnazi Mmoja and Al Rahma: 500 Euro. We will not charge anything to professionals who only wish to visit for a couple of days (and don't need permits) for instance to train local medical staff or assist at screenings.

Students wishing to do research for their doctoral dissertation generally need an additional research permit and need to be assigned a supervisor from Mnazi Mmoja - this involves further costs.

The costs we charge for the trouble-free package are independent from and don't include the officials fees charged by the government hospitals.

Accommodation: Not included

Meals: Not included

Inclusive of: Placement in the project + the whole range of services which is part of the special trouble-free package for placements at the government hospitals of Zanzibar

Not included: Travel, health insurance, visa, work permit

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