ZANZIBAR GETS NEW SH 500 M MATERNITY HOSPITAL

By Costantine Sebastian

Zanzibar is anticipating a drop in mother and child deaths after the completion of a new state-of-the-art medical facility next year built through an Italian charity.

An Italian investment firm, Renco has earmarked nearly Sh500 million (about $350,000) as part of its Social Corporate Responsibility (SCR) for the project intended to help reduce the deaths of expectant mothers, newborns and under five children-- currently one of the nagging health problems in the Isles.

Renco, which conducts business in both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, recently established a charity arm called Rinaldo Gasparini Foundation to spearhead its CSR and built the modern health clinic in northern Unguja.

A director of the company, Mr Paolo Chiaro, told The Citizen on Saturday that the medical facility would become operational early next year.The project, officially inaugurated on October 26 by the immediate former president Amani Abeid Karume, comprises a hospital with a workforce of about 10 people, including a fulltime specialist obtetrician.

“Renco, which has established the foundation to honour its founder Rinaldo Gasparini, has already spent $250,000 on the hospital that took four months to build. Another $100,000 will be used to cater for the requisite equipment and other items such as furniture, which are critical for smooth operation of a modern medical facility,” Mr Paolo noted.

He added, “That will make the total cost of the hospital to amount to $350,000 (about Sh490 million), which is worth spending, for it will help save lives by ensuring that pregnant women deliver their babies safely, which was the dream of the late Gasparini, who died in Zanzibar in 2004.”

The hospital will be run as a non-profit outfit operating according to a memorandum of understanding between the Rinaldo Gasparini Foundation and Zanzibar’s ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

According to the management of the Zanzibar Maternal and Child Health Programme, more than half of mothers in the Isles currently deliver their babies at home for lack of adequate medical and health facilities.

"Fewer than 50 per cent of the pregnant women in Zanzibar give birth in health facilities; the rest give birth at home with assistance from traditional birth attendants," says the ministry’s official, Mr Hanuni Waziri.

Statistics put the maternal mortality rate in Zanzibar at 377 per 100,000 live births, which is still relatively high. The global average is 207 per 100,000 live births, and Greece and Granada are the countries with the least maternal deaths at one per 100,000.

According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), about half a million women die every year in childbirth worldwide, while in Tanzania some 8,000 women die every year due to pregnancy and childbirth complications and 57 per cent of the deliveries take place at home.

Renco’s human resource manager Khamisy Fadhilly said that the Rinaldo Gasparini Foundation hospital will mainly serve residents of four villages in northern Unguja, namely Kigunda, Kilindi, Kendwa and Nungwi. The company estimates that about 20,000 to 25,000 people in the area will benefit from its services every year.

Area councillor Nyange Fadhili Mussa told The Citizen on Saturday that currently women in the locality walk or travel for up to 20 kilometres to get reliable maternal health services. He called on other investors in the area, which include owners of 40 tourist hotels, to emulate Renco and help enhance the welfare of local residents as part of their corporate social responsibility.

“This is the first example where a private organisation and an investment company has taken CSR more seriously because Renco has not only built the hospital but will also be involved in its running,” Mr Chiaro said.

He added, “It is an unprecedented development in corporate Zanzibar, if not in the whole of Tanzania, mainly for two reasons… First, it is the amount of money involved in just one project. Secondly, Renco is committing itself to maintaining and providing services to the hospital.”

Company officials said that the initiative is part of a new CSR strategy that involves doing away with the past “ad hoc approach” in social engagements and community activities. Under the new drive, Renco’s CSR operations are expected to be more organised, comprehensive and channelled through a specialised philanthropic organ-- Rinaldo Gasparini Foundation—the officials said.

Mr Gasparini established Renco S.p.A in Italy in 1979, and is operating locally through Renco Zanzibar Ltd and Renco Tanzania Construction Ltd. Local Investments are estimated at some $30 million (about Sh42 billion) to-date. While its construction firm specialises mainly in civil works and industrial plant engineering, Renco Zanzibar owns the five-start beach resorts famous as La Gemma dell’Est.

According to the officials, Renco S.p.A operates in over 50 countries worldwide in three main divisions - industry, infrastructures and services, and it has over 1000 projects and 20 offices in 15 countries

Chanzo; The Citizen daily