ABSTRACT
The ongoing reforms that cut across various sectors in Tanzania encompass as one of the major changes; the disposition and remuneration of civil servants including health workers. Retrenchment of health workers that started in the early 1990s; staff allocation and relocation in the facilities and the introduction of incentive packages have been implemented without the guidance of information on the actual magnitude and distribution of workload among them. This paper presents findings of the outpatient workload for clinicians based on a review of routinely available data from two districts in Tanzania. It was revealed that the average workload was 29 outpatients per clinician per day in health centres and 20 in dispensaries. Workload was found to be higher in Government dispensaries (20 outpatients/clinician/day) compared to private for profit owned facilities (8 per clinician/day). It was concluded from the study that there is an enormous variation in workload among facilities of the same type and between districts. It was therefore recommended that future plans on staff disposition and incentive schemes should take into consideration the burden of work shouldered by health workers at their respective working places. Further research should be conducted in order to establish workload among health workers of other cadres that will encompass services other than OPD