By Dr Edward Tamale-Sali
In 2009 a 47-year old Tanzanian woman came to Uganda seeking treatment. She had suffered infertility problems for over 25 years. She had previously consulted so many doctors within and without to no avail.
When she tried the Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre in Bukoto, I treated her successfully and she delivered a baby girl later.
This lady, a business woman, and her husband, made a big party for me and my wife at Serana hotel in Dar, Tanzania.
I had never been to Tanzania before then. After this party, she kept on begging me to start a fertility / IVF clinic in Dar. In 2011, I went to Dar with my wife and acquired premises and equipped it with the requisite tools as we awaited acquisition of a license for the clinic from the local authorities.
After one year, and despite multiple visits to the local authorities, the license was not forthcoming. I did not know any influential person to help me.
Following much frustration from the authorities, I decided with my wife to close shop and return to Uganda. You can imagine the rent and other expenses we had incurred for over 13 months!
That week, before we could return the keys to the Indian landlord, we decided to do a Joshua prayer match according to the book of Joshua chapter 6.
We matched seven times around our clinic building, singing and praising God. We said these words: “Lord, we thank you because you know all things. You knew why we came here. You know many infertile couples in this beautiful city of Dar and the whole country. We know you for you created this country and its inhabitants. These are our brothers and sisters. We pray for the government. According to your will we are returning to Uganda .You are the God who rained manna from heaven. Thank you Jesus.”
The following day as we were about to go to the airport, a lady walked in and wanted our services. She had previously seen our clinic’s name on the wall but the city council had removed it because of no license.
We explained to this lady what had happened and how we were closing and returning to Uganda for good. We left her talking to our Tanzanian medical officer whom we had employed.
One day later after arrival in Uganda, I got a telephone call from the Ministry of Health head offices, urgently inviting me for a meeting with the chief medical officer. I returned immediately and went into this meeting. I found about ten senior doctors with their chief medical officer. I was given a short interview about myself and what I wanted to do.
Within 15 minutes, the chief medical officer instructed that I be given a temporary license immediately to allow me to start my operations.
This was a miracle and only God could do. It was like a dream. God sent this woman and used her to make a connection to a higher office. I came to know later who she was and up to now I still think of it like it happened yesterday.
editor@goodnewskla.com
Dr Edward Tamale-Sali is director and founder, Women’s Hospital
International and Fertility Centre.
