The document discusses the patient referral system in Tanzania's health care system. It describes the hierarchical structure of the health care system, with dispensaries, health centers, district hospitals, regional hospitals, and national hospitals. Patients are typically referred from lower to higher levels of care. The referral system aims to promote access to appropriate care. However, it faces challenges like lack of transportation and delays. Improving transportation infrastructure and ensuring adequate funding for facilities could help strengthen the patient referral system.

1. THE PATIENT REFFERRAL
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INTRODUCTION
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 Patient Referrals in a given geographical
area can be interpreted as networks where
each referral represents a directional tie
between a pair of health facilities within
the Health Care System
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 Health Care System is an organization of
people, institutions, and resources that
deliver is health care services to meet the
health needs of target populations
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INTRODUCTION...
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AIM
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 To give an overview of Patient Referral
System in Tanzania
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SCOPE
 Health care system in Tanzania
 Patient Referral system in Tanzania
 Challenges of Referral system in
Tanzania
 Ways forward
 Conclusion
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HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN
TANZANIA
 Tanzania has a hierarchical Health System which
is in tandem with the political administrative
hierarchy
 At the bottom, there are the Dispensaries and
health posts found in every village where the
village leaders have a direct influence on its running
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 Dispensary
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HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN
TANZANIA CONT…
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 The Health Centers are found at ward level
and the Health Center In charge is
answerable to the ward leaders
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HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN
TANZANIA CONT…
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 At the District, there is a District Hospital
and at the Regional level a Regional Referral
Hospital or Designated hospitals
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TANZANIA CONT…
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 The Tertiary level is usually the Zone
Hospitals and at National level, there is the
National Hospital
 There are also some Specialized hospitals
that do not fit directly into this hierarchy and
therefore are directly linked to the Ministry of
Health
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HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN
TANZANIA CONT…
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Hierarchical Health System
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MUHIMBILI NATIONAL HOSPITAL
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JAKAYA KIKWETE CARDIAC INSTITUTE
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 The Government runs 74% of Healthcare
Facilities with the rest being either faith-based
or private
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HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN
TANZANIA CONT…
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HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN
TANZANIA CONT…
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Patient Referral System in
Tanzania
 Patient referrals in a given geographical area
can be interpreted as networks where
each referral represents a directional tie
between a pair of health facilities
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Patient Referral system
in Tanzania…
 In Tanzania the system rely on a pyramidal
structure with local primary facilities
covering remote rural communities and
urban areas that host the largest share of
the population
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Patient Referral system in
Tanzania…
 Primary level facilities provide simple
preventive and treatment procedures
with little equipment and human resources
capacity, and rely on secondary and
tertiary level facilities for the treatment
and diagnosis of more complicated cases
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Patient Referral system in
Tanzania…
 As per Tanzania referral procedure, patients
from Health post, Dispensary and Health
centre are referred directly to the District
hospital
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Patient Referral system in
Tanzania…
 District hospitals refer patients to Regional
hospitals which can refer patients to the
National or Specialised hospitals
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CONDITIONS MANAGED AT EACH LEVEL
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Patient Referral system in
Tanzania…
 This referral system promote the
delivery of appropriate healthcare to rural
and urban population
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Challenges of Referral
System in Tanzania
 The referral system in Tanzania faces several
challenges including the lack of adequate
resources and means to transfer patients
 Lack of solid referral criteria and compliance at
higher level
 Frequent delays
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Challenges of Referral
System in Tanzania…
 The frequent self-referrals to hospitals related to
the perceived poor quality of care at primary-
level facilities
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Ways Forward
 The patient referral system is influenced by
the transportation infrastructure e.g. roads
 To this extent, the government set enough
public budgets to maintain appropriate
roads and means of transportation (e.g.
ambulance) to increase the efficacy of
patient referral arrangements
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Ways forward…
 Currently, health facilities have autonomy in
the use of funds, both for basket fund
(through own bank accounts) and for
funds generated locally through user fees
and Tanzania National Health
Insurance Fund
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Ways forward…
 The Presidents Office for Regional
Administration and local Government
directly oversees and supports the
districts in their steering role over the
health system, together with the Ministry of
Health
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Summary
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THANKS FOR LISTENING
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HAKUNA MATATA
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References
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC799664
9/ (Accessed on 231853 April 23).
 https://www.pharmaccess.org/wp-
content/uploads/2018/01/The-healthcare-system-in-
Tanzania (Accessed on 231900 April 23).
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