ENT Residents and training

As of September 2011, four ENT residents have started training: Philbert Mtenga, Bernard Minja, Desderius Chussi and Peter Shija. Philbert and Bernard were already working as MDs at KCMC. Because of the costs, Bernard Minja has decided not to proceed with the program. Perhaps he will try again next year. In the meantime however he continues his work at the ENT department of KCMC and is an important factor for the education of the students, which he manages in a good and proper manner. Peter is jointly appointed as formal contact on behalf of the residents.

Because Tanzanian residents must pay tuition for their training, financial funding remains a problem. The tuition fees have been waived by the University and will hopefully be obtained by the University via RUN KCMC. The salary of the residents is paid by the hospital (as with the other residents), but nevertheless there is a difference in income between the ENT residents and other residents in the hospital. Other residents who are paid by the Ministry of Health have a kind of extra allowance.

The remaining three residents have spent the first half of the 2011-12 academic year receiving basic science training at the KCMC. The residents then moved to the Muhimbili University Hospital in Dar es Salaam for their first ENT residency year. Muhimbili has five ENT specialists available. The residents finished this year in February 2013 and continued their residency at the KCMC since then.

The entire ENT residency program in Dar es Salaam can be completed in only three years, as opposed to the four-year program at KCMC. This might, in part, explain why KCMC has had difficulty recruiting ENT residents.