The Loliondo miracle, collapsed health systems and traditions
Saumu Jumanne
In Tanzania an academic doctor, a medical doctor and an illiterate villager,
once a goat thief turned into a witchdoctor – are all, merrily called
doctors.
Actually deep in the rural villages, the children grow up calling the
village witchdoctor, ‘daktari,’ the Kiswahili equivalent of a doctor. They
learn there are other doctors- medics, only when they visit dispensaries
that are more often than not, many miles away from their homes. And even the
guys they call doctors there are always medical officers and never fully
fledged medical doctors.
I don’t think there is any government owned dispensary in Tanzania that is
manned by a fully qualified doctor. The closest you will come to find full
Dr is at the district hospitals, not even the health centres. Once in a
while the health centre may have one Dr as the boss. The rest as usual are
medical officers and nurses.
This means for majority children in the motherland, their first contact with
‘daktari’ is a traditional healer, a nurse or a medical officer calling
themselves doctors. Only much later in life, when they grow up do they
realize the true value of the word ‘doctor’, and what it entails to have it
before your name.
Our Kiswahili gurus- have done literally nothing to remove the confusion and
subsequent social degradation brought about by the mix-up of the name- where
the title Dr now means everything and nothing.
Long ago before Islam and Christianity set foot in Africa, every community
had a rainmaker, herbalist and a spiritualist ( witchdoctor/ sorcerer).
Each of the three professions was distinct from the other, but the colonial
guards labeled all of them as witches (waganga). Kiswahili language also
did no justice to the three professions labeling them into one-Mganga/
Daktari. This has perpetuated the confusion and enabled total idiots to
claim they are doctors.
The herbalist was a scientist, who used hundreds of years of combined
research and experience to cure diseases. The only difference with modern
medicine was that, he had not reached a position of analyzing the compounds
in modern scientific terms because he was illiterate. But being illiterate
does not mean one is ignorant or does not have knowledge. The true herbalist
was a well of medical knowledge yet illiterate in the white man’s world.
As far as modern Tanzania is concerned, we now have a super doctor, Retired
Rev. Ambilikile Mwasapile aka ‘Babu’ whose so-called miracle cure; people
are following from far and wide, to his remote village in Loliondo. There
are many testimonies of healing, thanks to the so called magic drink, which
according to retired pastor, God revealed to him in a dream. A number of
cabinet ministers and regional commissioners have taken his cup. The
millions of people thronging there waiting for weeks to reach Babu, show how
people really value their health. And I could bet most of them have tried
our health systems, which to say the least is in a terrible mess.
Despite the shortcomings that arise from budgetary constraints, the way the
staff at public hospitals treat the patients (zero customer care), leaves a
lot to be desired. An illiterate ‘doctor’ in the village, sometimes offering
deadly connotations to his patients has better customer cares skills than a
nurse at national or regional hospital.
No wonder I have never met a medical doctor in my motherland who allows you
to go home with your medical records. They will just give you a small card
with a number and nothing more. A professional medical doctor-must give you
a record with information on diagnosis and treatment offered, so that even
if you don’t go back to that hospital, you will have your records to share
with your next medic. If our medical doctors in both private and public
hospitals were to be judged solely on that …. they would get zero marks. If
you want to know how bad the situation is- just read the government
commissioned report “The Tanzania Health System Assessment 2010.”
The author can be reached on, saumu.j@gmail.com. She is an Assistant
Lecturer, Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE).