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Thousands of patients were affected by the doctors' strike in Tanzania, which was suspended last week after a four-day standoff with the government, according to hospital officials.

The strike by public sector doctors led to higher than usual numbers of patients turning to large public hospitals for treatment.

Aminiel Aligaesha, public relations officer for the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), told Sabahi that 2,700 patients were affected at the hospital.

Muhimbili is the largest medical facility in Tanzania and the main public facility for patients from across the country receiving specialised care, Aligaesha said.

The hospital employs 259 doctors, all of whom participated in the strike, and 1,010 nurses, who said they could not work without the doctors.

As a contingency plan, 67 senior doctors working at the Ministry of Health headquarters were deployed to hospitals in the city, and arrangements were made to transfer the overflow of patients at public hospitals to private facilities, according to Dr. Donnan Mmbando, acting chief medical officer at MNH.

Chief medical officer for Temeke Hospital Dr. Amani Malima said that 10,000 patients were impacted countrywide.

"Imagine here at Temeke, the number of outpatients increased from around 1,500 per day to more than 2,000. We could not manage the number, and the situation was similar in most hospitals in the country," Malima told the government owned newspaper Habari Leo on Tuesday (March 13th).

"It was bad," Aligaesha said. "We thank the president for his intervention as the situation was getting out of control."

Patients left in limbo

Adelina Porokwa, 46, a teacher in Dar es Salaam, said she had to wait for five days for doctors to return to perform a previously scheduled surgery on her 11-year-old daughter Annet. "All preparations were ready. We had even signed for her operation to be done, but suddenly we were told doctors were not there to do it," she said.

"Finally they have operated on her successfully today," Porokwa told Sabahi on Tuesday. "I thank God, but I do not even want to think of the kind of agony she has passed through."

Porokwa said her family could not afford to take her daughter out of the country to receive medical care and was worried she might have died if doctors did not return to operate on her. "I had lost hope, but now I feel better. God is on my side," she said.

On Saturday, Salum Haji, a patient with a spinal cord related illness, told Sabahi he had witnessed five patients dying unattended, and their bodies remained in the ward longer than usual.

"This is threatening and sickening… it is immoral by all standards," Haji told Sabahi. He said the government should resolve the issue at once and for all.

Doctors' demands

The public sector doctors' main demands include increased salaries, improved working conditions and availability of better equipment to serve patients. They demanded the basic salary for new doctors to increase form 950,000 shillings to 3.5 million shillings, and to receive additional funds for high-risk environments, accommodations and transportation allowances. Doctors also requested unlimited health coverage for all workers through the National Health Insurance Fund.

"If we are to compute all these demands, a new doctor will be earning 7.7 million Tanzanian shillings per month. As a result, specialists will be earning up to 17 million Tanzanian shillings," said President Jakaya Kikwete on Monday, expressing concern the salaries were too large for the government to afford.

Nonetheless, doctors halted their strike on Monday after intense negotiations during the four-day standoff with the government.

"We had a serious discussion with honourable President Kikwete for nine consecutive hours," Medical Association of Tanzania Chairman Dr. Namala Mkopi said in a statement. "The talks have been fruitful and we believe and trust in what he has promised us…therefore with this note, we call upon all doctors in the country to resume their duties with immediate effect from now."

Mkopi expressed hope that the president would solve outstanding issues. "He is the president of this country and we believe he is committed to do what we have agreed," Mkopi told reporters on Sunday after ordering doctors to resume their duties.

Kikwete brokered the agreement that brought doctors back to hospitals. He said formal negotiations would resume under a committee headed by Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, but did not yet schedule a meeting date.

This was the second doctors' strike this year -- the first lasted for 17 days in January and February.