24 Apr 2014

Yesteryear nurses were revered and held in high regard for their commitment and selflessness towards the health service and as such should help spread the same spirit to the current ones for an improved health care system.

This was said by the assistant minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Mr Matlhabaphiri when officially launching Botswana Retired Nurses Society, Serowe branch on Wednesday, April 23.

Mr Matlhabaphiri said that government appreciated the invaluable contribution played by the retired nurses and as such drummed support for their non-governmental organization society that seeks to inter alia, relieve the burden of care on caregivers, teach about HIV/AIDS scourge and care for senior citizens.

The assistant minister said that the retired nurses played a significant role in improving healthcare in the country and found that their experience was still vital for the improvement of healthcare system locally and even beyond borders.

As a result the former assistant minister of health drummed support for the 58 member society by calling on people and the leadership of Serowe and surrounding villages to partake and support BORNUS’ benevolence.
BORNUS was not only praised for its commitment and selfless in serving the people of Botswana but was also observed to be sharing the same vision with government for their deeds which are in line with some pillars of Vision 2016.

On related issues the assistant minister revealed that the Ministry of Health was in constant talks with Directorate of Public Service management in view of increasing MoA personnel so that no Motswana would seek medical attention five kilometres from their lodging.

He also revealed that in an effort to improve health service MoA intends to have each health post manned by at least two nurses one of which will be a midwife.

For her part, national president of BORNUS Ms Joyce Tamocha challenged government to allow retired nurses to open up their own clinics in order to relief government facilities of congestion.

She quashed the argument that questioned the safety of the public at the hands of nurses if they were allowed to open their own healthcare facilities.

Ms Tamocha who went for a benchmarking exercise in Harare on how best the retired nurses could be utilized and what was needed for the same to operate their private clinics found that amongst the retired nurses were specialists like midwives whose experience could be used even after their retirement.

“Let’s nurture the baby and see it growing,” Ms Tamocha said in reference to the retired nurses society whose idea was conceived somewhere in Tlokweng when the effects of HIV/AIDS were at their harshest.
BORNUS was born after a funeral of a former nurse who was described as ‘a true Nightingale of our times’ by Serowe Ms Mavis Kewakae.

Ms Kewakae said that the nurse in question was not accorded the treatment of a fallen heroine and hence the idea of establishing a society which later assessed the needs of a society and found that HIV/AIDS was so rampant that they needed to face it head on.

Though registered just last year, BORNUS has been in existence since 1999 and was approved by leadership as a society that was long overdue.

The society has so far been assisted financially and otherwise by First National Bank, Global Fund, Project Concern International and New Partners Initiative amongst others.

In an endeavor to take their services closer to the people BORNUS has opened branches in villages such as Morwa, Kanye, Molepolole, and Francistown and will soon open another office in Palapye.

They initially started their operations in Tlokweng where area Member of Parliament Mr Olebile Gaborone played a patron and organised annual fund-raising dinners for the society. ENDS