Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital (BLH) belongs to the south Central Diocese (SCD) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania ELCT). It is 35 old opened 1968. It is a voluntary Agency Hospital registered with the Ministry of Health. It has 120 beds. It gets grant from the government through the Ministry of Health for 27 staff and a bed grant for 90 beds only. Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital is a referral institution for about 100,000 people. Our catchment population is about 60,000 people. The community saved by BLH is mainly of low social economic class, although there are patients who come from big towns, Mbeya 110 km, Iringa 380 km, Njombe 130 km, Kyela 250 km, Tukuyu 130 km, seeking specialized services of orthopaedic, dental and gynaecological offered by the hospital. Most of the people in BLH catchment area small scale farmers growing wheat, maize, potatoes, beans, peas and a variety of fruits (apples, peaches, etc.) for home consumption. Pyrethrum and coffee are only on experimental stages as cash crops. Cows, sheep, goats pigs and chicken are also kept.
