Dodoma — For Marietha Jonas, 24, seeking medical care can mean enduring long waits, struggling to explain her symptoms and leaving a health facility without the assurance that she has been properly understood.
An entrepreneur who lost her hearing at the age of four, Marietha says the absence of sign language interpreters in healthcare facilities has repeatedly left her feeling excluded from services that should be available to everyone.
Recalling one experience at a health facility, she said she waited for an extended period as hearing patients were attended to and left before her turn came.
“I waited a long time for my turn, but those who could hear were going in and out. I felt as if perhaps I was not a human being,” she told The Chanzo after a prayer service.
For Marietha, the problem goes beyond inconvenience. When a patient and a doctor cannot communicate effectively, the consequences can include inadequate examinations, incorrect treatment and a failure to understand how prescribed medicines should be used.
“It is important to have interpreters so that deaf people can receive appropriate services in society,” she said. “When you arrive at a hospital and speak to a doctor, you do not understand each other. Sometimes you receive no service, or you receive inappropriate treatment. To get the right examinations, you need an interpreter who can help you communicate and obtain the correct care.”
Her experience reflects a broader challenge facing people with hearing disabilities in Tanzania, where a shortage of sign language interpreters continues to create barriers between patients and healthcare providers.
Section 26(1) and (2) of the Persons with Disabilities Act No. 9 of 2010 provides for the right of people with disabilities to access quality healthcare without discrimination and requires health facilities to take appropriate measures to ensure that such services are accessible.
Yet, for many deaf patients, the practical ability to exercise that right remains uncertain.
Ally Jumanne Malacha, 40, a motorcycle taxi driver, lost his hearing at the age of six after falling ill with malaria. He says his hearing disappeared completely after he was given a quinine injection during treatment.
Although he uses a hearing device, he says explaining his condition to healthcare workers can still lead to misunderstandings and humiliating encounters.
“When I tell a doctor that I cannot hear properly, the doctor asks, ‘How come I have spoken and you can hear?’ Sometimes the doctor even starts banging on the table, accusing me of pretending,” he said.
READ MORE: Disability & Charity: Where Do We Draw Our Lines?
“I just look at him because he does not understand that the problem is inside my body.”
Ally believes healthcare workers should learn sign language, alongside ensuring interpreters are available. For him, this is particularly important when patients need confidential services, such as HIV testing.
“If a deaf person goes for an HIV test, that information should remain between two people. But if they have to find an interpreter, the person must begin translating everything. At that point, it is no longer a secret between the two people,” he said.
He also says some members of society wrongly associate sign language with mental illness, reinforcing the stigma experienced by deaf people.
“When I use sign language and you cannot communicate with me, how can I receive services? I feel as if my language has been excluded,” he said, adding that poor communication in hospitals amounts to a denial of patients’ rights.
Figures cited from Tanzania’s 2022 census indicate that Dodoma City Council has approximately 11,500 to 13,000 people with hearing disabilities. Meanwhile, a 2025 report by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), titled The Right to Life and Health for Special Groups, indicates that deaf people face twice the risk of dying when admitted to hospitals in critical condition compared with hearing people.
For Emmanuel Ntandu, 40, an entrepreneur and father of two, the absence of interpreters means patients sometimes have to improvise ways to communicate with medical professionals.
“When we go to hospitals, we face serious difficulties. We want the Government to place interpreters in hospitals, but their availability remains a challenge,” he said at Bethel Baptist Deaf Church of Tanzania in Nkuhungu, Dodoma.
Emmanuel says he sometimes writes down his symptoms on paper to help doctors understand his condition. However, written communication is not always a reliable solution, particularly when handwriting is difficult to read or when a patient needs to explain complicated symptoms.
Yusuph Mloli, 46, chairperson of the Dodoma regional chapter of the Tanzania Association of the Deaf (CHAVITA) and a teacher of children with special needs, recalls an occasion when a doctor at a private hospital asked his sign language interpreter to leave the consultation room.
The doctor instructed him to communicate through writing instead. When the written exchange failed, Mloli left and went to another hospital without receiving treatment that day.
“We failed to understand each other, so I went to another hospital and did not receive services that day,” he said. He urged doctors to learn sign language, noting that difficult handwriting can make communication even harder.
The problem is not necessarily a complete absence of training initiatives, but the failure to ensure that trained personnel remain where they are needed.
Mazengo Wilium, a former chairperson of Association of Deaf People in Tanzania (CHAVITA) in Dodoma, says several institutions have paid for sign language training, including the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), where approximately 10 people were trained; Dodoma Regional Referral Hospital, with about 20; and Benjamin Mkapa Hospital, with around five.
However, he says trained personnel are not always assigned to positions where they can assist deaf patients.
“At Dodoma Regional Referral Hospital, there used to be sign language interpreters, and this made it easier for deaf people to receive good services,” he said. “After the removal of ghost workers, some people were affected, and since then there has been no one who knows sign language. When a deaf person arrives at reception, communication becomes a problem.”
The consequences can be particularly severe for women seeking reproductive healthcare.
Nassriya Ally, a special-seat Member of Parliament representing people with disabilities on the Mainland and in Zanzibar, says communication barriers can result in patients receiving treatment that does not match their actual conditions.
READ MORE: Here’s Why Most of Tanzania’s Journalists Shy Away From Disability Reporting
A nurse might misunderstand a deaf patient’s description of abdominal pain and provide treatment for typhoid, she explained.
Nassriya also recounted the experience of a woman identified as Joyce, who lives in Tabata, Dar es Salaam. Joyce reportedly lost her baby after communication difficulties caused healthcare workers to misunderstand a complication during childbirth.
Nassriya said she later accompanied Joyce to a hospital, where she received treatment and recovered. Joyce subsequently became pregnant again and now has a six-year-old child.
The account illustrates the potentially devastating consequences of communication failures, particularly when timely and accurate information is essential to medical decisions.
Nassriya says deaf people are also excluded from health education delivered through television screens in hospitals, including information about reproductive health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she added, the absence of accessible communication made it difficult for deaf people to understand important public health information.
Privacy is another concern. Kalebi Muhawi, chairperson of the Dodoma chapter of the Tanzania Association of People with Disabilities (CHAWATA), says patients who must find their own interpreters risk disclosing sensitive personal information to third parties.
“Some matters should not be known by other people, but a patient is forced to let an interpreter know,” he said, adding that this discourages some deaf people from seeking medical attention.
Justus Ng’wantalima, regional secretary of the Federation of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (SHIVYAWATA) in Dodoma, says some deaf people avoid hospitals because they anticipate wasting time while trying to find someone who can interpret for them.
He believes facilities should have designated staff trained in sign language, allowing patients to communicate with healthcare workers who are bound by professional confidentiality obligations.
Hospital officials acknowledge the shortage. Dr Edmond Mgeni, head of the quality assurance unit at Dodoma Regional Referral Hospital, says the facility recognises the importance of sign language services but does not have enough specialists to meet demand.
“Our hospital provides this service, but the specialists are few,” he said. “Our plan is to continue building the capacity of other professionals through training. The demand is high, and we need more specialists at our facilities to help us provide services more easily.”
READ MORE: Tanzania’s Criminal Justice System Fails People With Intellectual Disability
The shortage also intersects with employment challenges. Aisha Msantu, a special-seat MP and director of Glaring Future Foundation, which supports children, young people and people with disabilities, says many people trained in sign language end up teaching rather than working in healthcare and other public-facing services.
She called on the Government to create dedicated employment opportunities for sign language specialists within the health sector.
“I appeal to the Government to set aside positions in healthcare cadres so that those trained in health-related sign language can be recognised and employed,” she said.
The Government has previously outlined steps to develop the profession. On June 2, 2025, Deputy Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports Hamis Mwinjuma told Parliament that 300 sign language interpreters had registered in a national database.
Responding to a question from special-seat MP Stella Ikupa about plans to make sign language an official means of communication, Mwinjuma said the Government recognised sign language as an important means of communication for people with hearing difficulties.
He added that the Government intended to strengthen professional training and had prepared a service structure for the cadre. Further plans included enabling qualified interpreters to learn international sign language so they could work both within and outside Tanzania.
Jackline Kuwanda is a senior journalist with The Chanzo based in Dodoma. She can be reached at jaquelinevictor88@gmail.com.
