TPDC-sponsored medical service benefits 200 plus

OVER 200 residents in gasrich Songo Songo Island in Kilwa District, Lindi Region, have benefited from a free medical screening campaign courtesy of Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC).


The medical campaign focused on non-communicable diseases as well as infectious health conditions such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis, according to Dr Octavian Modest, who works with private medical facility AAR Hospital Tanzania.

“About 20 per cent of people who turned up for the campaign were diagnosed with either high or low blood pressure and we gave them the required medical counsel; the other problem was obesity for some people in Songo Songo,” the medical practitioner explained.

Dr Modest expressed concern over the fact that many residents of the island could hardly access medicines and medical supplies in the island lest they travelled miles away across the Indian Ocean to Kilwa Kivinje District Hospital where they were available.

A medical officer at Songo Songo Dispensary, Dr Francis Bwegoge, decried shortage of medical personnel and supplies at the health facility. “As we speak we do not have even a laboratory technician; the only testing apparatus we have here is for malaria and as such residents are forced to travel across the ocean to Kilwa if they want other types of medical examinations,” he explained.

Speaking during the exercise, the Acting General Manager of Gas Supply Company (GASCO), a subsidiary of the TPDC, Eng. Baltazar Mrosso, said the free medical screening campaign was part of the company’s social corporate responsibility mission.

“We have been told of challenges facing the health facility and we pledge to look into the matter to bring relief to the people on this island. On the other hand, the apparatus which was used to screen diabetes during the campaign will be donated to the dispensary,” he said.

At the occasion, Songo Songo Ward Local Councillor, Mr Saidi Mgeni, hailed what he described as cordial relations between residents in the island and the management of TPDC. “The island faces a number of challenges in social services but TPDC has played an important role in addressing some of the issues,” he stated.


One of the residents, Mr Mohammed Mwinyi, cited some of the interventions by the state-owned national oil company as free provision of 60,000 litres of water on a daily basis as well as free access to electricity at the island’s berth.