HERI MISSION HOSPITAL

HistoryHeri Adventist Hospital is a 95-bed general hospital situated near Lake Tanganyika in Western Tanzania, a few miles from the Burundi border and about 45 miles from Kigoma. It is operated by the Tanzania Union and serves the Ha tribe primarily but draws patients from other tribes as well.“W. Sparrow began construction in 1947. Before the buildings were completed, a clinic was opened in June, 1949, with Dr. W. H. Taylor, F.R.C.S., in charge and Alice Jensen as nurse. Petro Marwa was the first ministerial worker in the area. In the same year work was begun for 20 lepers, the government supplying the necessary drugs. The number of lepers later increased to 500, most of them outpatients. The hospital opened officially in June, 1953. The plant consisted of an administration block, a men’s ward, a women’s ward, a surgical unit with X-ray equipment, an outpatient department, utility buildings, and staff housing. The building was subsequently extended to consist of four wards - female, male, pregnant women wards and semi-private and private rooms.In addition to the services offered by the hospital, outpatient clinics are operated, at Kigoma, Kasulu, Tutuo, Urambo, and Kibbondo.Due to the remote location of the hospital, staff and workers’ housing must be provided. Initially, there was one house for a doctor and a house for nurses. Then, three houses for physicians were available in the campus; now, there are four houses for four physicians. To date about 50% of the whole hospital staff is located on the campus utilizing Heri Adventist Hospital constructed and owned buildings.A field station, operated in separate buildings by the Division of Public Health and Tropical Medicine of the Loma Linda University, graduated ten African workers from a one-year medical training program in 1962, and a second group in December, 1963. This training facility has not been operational in recent years, and the Hospital wishes to reinstate medical training on site.Evangelism has been fostered at Heri, and a church building was dedicated in 1961. In 1963 the total church membership in the area was 410 in seven scattered groups. Medical services brought the SDA faith to the local people around the Hospital, and now there are about 3,500 SDA members within the official denominational boundaries of the Hospital.There was one primary school owned by the hospital, which was taken over by the government during the nationalization era (1960's). The hospital is now working on establishing a primary school, and in this regard has constructed a three classroom school on the Krym/MacDonald lands.Until 2005, Dr. Neils Oster, a Danish American physician, was the medical Director of Heri Adventist Hospital. As a result of his nationality and language skills, Dr. Oster was able to obtain significant funding from ADRA Denmark and the Government of Denmark for the construction of the hydro electric power plant and transmission lines. In 2005, Dr. Oster retired to become Director of Development on a part time basis and Dr. Alvin Rocero transferred from the Adventist Hospital in Uganda to the position of Medical Director at Heri.

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