Involvement Volunteers International Hospital Medical Support in Stone Town, Zanzibar
For those practising or aspiring to practice medicine, medical volunteer abroad internships are an incredible way to gain experience while learning about local culture and the many healthcare challenges faced in developing countries. Depending on current skill levels, you can transfer pre-existing medical knowledge where possible and provide overall assistance to the understaffed hospitals facing many challenges found within developing countries.
IVI offer various medical placements and hospital internships designed for volunteers from all backgrounds and skill levels. Many options are available for volunteers with the intial phase of your placement dedicated to observation before getting your hands dirty. We are able to offer experienced participants with daily roles as nurses and doctors.
Many of the hospitals aim to offer affordable health treatment to local inhabitants who don’t have access to free healthcare. Consequently they are inundated with patients, not helped by being under-staffed. Volunteers will be able to transfer their pre-existing knowledge and absorb knew knowledge and information from the medical staff and the hospital.
These programs are designed for proactive individuals and groups that are prepared to adapt to the local environment and current needs and are designed to give participants the maximum level of interaction in the hospital.
Volunteers for health care projects assist local doctors and medical staff with the treatment of patients. Medical internship volunteers are also involved in other hospital activities such as record keeping, data management, sanitation, patient education and other specialist areas as required. Ask us for more information on how you can assist!
You’ll be placed in a midwifery ward of the hospital where you will spend your days shadowing other medical practitioners who are experienced in the field of midwifery. This will provide you an invaluable opportunity to learn first hand the day to day running’s of a hospital in a developing country and allow you to connect with people from all walks of life from all over the world. The hospitals we work with undergo a review process to ensure they are suitable to provide an effective experience for all healthcare volunteer abroad interns.
As an aspiring or practicing medical doctor you’ll be provided a mentor clinician who is experienced and can take you under their wing where appropriate. They’ll help you aclimatise to the hospital environment to understand the various medical procedures and protocols necessary to ensure quality medical care to all patients. This experience allows you to see things from a different perspective in a developing country.
Nurses are very much in demand all over the world in hospital internships and medical placements as the local staff are almost always under-resourced and the needs tend to outstrip the available options. You may already be a nurse or are interested in learning how to be a nurse. Either way we have options for you to get your hands dirty and observe other qualified nurses going about their daily roles within quality medical hospital establishments.
In most cases volunteers interested in these placements require some background in medicine & health care and may currently be a doctor, nurse, medical student or hospital employee or are able to demonstrate an appropriate level of training, experience or desire to participate in the medical field. Applications will be assessed on a case by case basis and depending on background volunteers without skills in these areas can still be approved. Talk to us with any questions.
Whether you’re travelling in a group, with a friend or on your own, you’ll meet volunteers from all over the world. You should really be 18 years or older, however we can cater to some who are 16 or 17 depending on the application. There is no upper age limit.
All projects require individuals who are genuinly interested in helping less fortunate in developing countries where cultures and belief systems will likely be very different to your home country and therefore a high degree of patience is normally required and acceptance for alternative ways of doing things.