THE FIRST BLACK
AFRICAN TANZANIAN DOCTOR
DR JOSEPH
RUTAKOREZIBWA MUTAHANGARWA
SHORT HISTORY:
He was
born in a Chiefly Family in Kiziba, Kagera region in Tanzania. He was the first
Tanganyikan to complete the medical course at Makerere.
His Dad
was Chief (Omukama) Karutasigwa Mutahangarwa.
Dr
Joseph gave his Chief inheritance to his Brother Chief Lutinwa and decided to
go to school instead. His Family members were Mboneko, Mutafungwa, Kaiborola,
Kituntunu, Kaijanangoma, Kafamba, Mutabora and many others.
He was
not the first born.
He
enjoyed mostly celebrating X-mass with his Family, singing x-mass carols etc.
He
liked school a lot and he was A student throughout, he liked science subjects.
He went to Tabora Boys Secondary school, then to Kisubi in Uganda, through
Makerere he completed at Mulango Hospital in 1940 and got married the same year
in Kampala to Josephine Kirege(Original from Uganda).
He arrived in Dar es Salaam in the same year to serve his
internship at Sewa Haji Hospital (now Muhimbili National Hospital). His work
there was highly regarded. The rudiments of hospital care in Tanzania date back to 1888 when
Germans created a medical service for German East Africa (as Tanganyika,
mainland Tanzania, was then known). Muhimbili National Hospital
(MNH), the pinnacle of health care in postcolonial Tanzania, evolved from Sewa
Haji Hospital, which opened in 1893 as a donation by a local Indian merchant.
The British renamed it Princess Margaret Hospital in 1956, then at independence
from Britain, President Nyerere's Government renamed it Muhimbili Hospital. The
first Tanganyikan to complete Makerere's AMO program, Joseph Mutahangarwa,
began his internship at Sewa Haji Hospital where in 1942 he performed the
hospital's first major all-African surgery. Today the successor institution,
MNH, serves as the teaching hospital for MUHAS.
In April 1942, Dr J. Mutahangarwa was posted in Shanwa, a remote station in Shinyanga with no railway connection nor telegraph service. This appointment made him the first African Medical Officer to be in charge of a station in the Tanganyika territory. He managed the hospital with an entirely African Staff. He found however that he had inherited a crisis, an epidemic of cerebrospinal-meningitidis had brocken out during that year. The total number of CSM cases in the following year were in excess of 600 patients and 109 deaths. The CSM epidemic continued through-out his 3.5 year tenure however cases and deaths gradually decreased. A smallpox epidemic erupted in the aread during 1944-1945, and he oversaw the vaccination of 86,604 people in a district with very poor transportation, while at the same time running a 38-bed hospital and an outpatient clinic, and organizing clinical trails of traditional medicines for the treatment of tuberculosis.
Despite Mutahangarwa initial pride and optimism, his years at Shanwa were unhappy. He struggled to manage on his small salary (less than 400 Tshs a month), was pestered by bureaucrats, drown in paperwork and isolated from other professionals. In 1951 he quit government service and moved to private practice.
Among his contemporaries were the gifted Dr. Francis Mwaisela from Mbeya and Dr. Raymond K.
In April 1942, Dr J. Mutahangarwa was posted in Shanwa, a remote station in Shinyanga with no railway connection nor telegraph service. This appointment made him the first African Medical Officer to be in charge of a station in the Tanganyika territory. He managed the hospital with an entirely African Staff. He found however that he had inherited a crisis, an epidemic of cerebrospinal-meningitidis had brocken out during that year. The total number of CSM cases in the following year were in excess of 600 patients and 109 deaths. The CSM epidemic continued through-out his 3.5 year tenure however cases and deaths gradually decreased. A smallpox epidemic erupted in the aread during 1944-1945, and he oversaw the vaccination of 86,604 people in a district with very poor transportation, while at the same time running a 38-bed hospital and an outpatient clinic, and organizing clinical trails of traditional medicines for the treatment of tuberculosis.
Despite Mutahangarwa initial pride and optimism, his years at Shanwa were unhappy. He struggled to manage on his small salary (less than 400 Tshs a month), was pestered by bureaucrats, drown in paperwork and isolated from other professionals. In 1951 he quit government service and moved to private practice.
Among his contemporaries were the gifted Dr. Francis Mwaisela from Mbeya and Dr. Raymond K.
His daughter Dr Jenner Mutahangarwa became a Doctor, studied in
Cuba and now living and married by an Ivorian in Ivory Coast, Abidjan.
He had seven children, Joseph, Janet, Patrick, Julie, Jenner,
Angela and Regina.
Among them Regina who is the last born became a mid Wife, The
oldest Captain Joseph was in Tanzania army but now deceased, Patrick was a
business Man deceased as well, Julie is married and now a grand mother lives in
Arusha, Janet is a former member of Parliament married and is now a grandmother
lives in Dar, Regina married to a Kenyan Professor lives in Nairobi and Angela
lives in Canada with her family married to an Ugandan.
He was proud of being an African and Tanzanian.
He was so kind, generous and loving Man, very sociable.
He listened to people’s problems and helped a lot of people by
solving their problems.
He passed away in 1966 in Mbarara, Uganda where he had settled
in his last days of his life.
He was Diebetic.
I am The Late Dr Joseph’s Grandson and my Dad is Patrick
Mutahangarwa who passed away in 1996.
I studied in England in 1993 to 1996 and worked for Volkswagen
Group of Company after my studies before I came back home in 1999. Now I live
together with my beloved Grandmother Josephine Mutahangarwa, the wife of The
Late Dr Joseph Mutahangarwa.
I work for TANDAN FARMS LTD as Sales and Marketing Manager. We
deal in Farming, Live stocks and Meat processing at Jesus Town, Vikindu
Village, Mkuranga District, Coast Region in Tanzania.
My Mum is called Mrs Eva Mutahangarwa(Original from Uganda) living
in UK at the moment and i have three Sisters. The eldest is called Patricia,
and other two young Sisters are Julie and Jacquiline Mutahangarwa.
I live in Dar, single parent with three kids, one boy and two
girls.
Patricia lives in Kossovo, woking for UN, Julie is married to a
Ugandan living in UK and Jacquiline has just completed her ‘A’ level exams this
year, she also lives in Dar es salaam.
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