04 Jun 2014

The Ministry of Health will revise the current setup of dispensing ARV drugs separately, as it is deemed discriminatory by the public.   

Submitting before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday June 2, health ministry permanent secretary, Dr Kolaatamo Malefho said when HIV was still new in the country, the number of infected people were overwhelming hence the need for extra structures that happened to be specific to HIV patients.

He said the ministry was also piloting the booking system to alleviate congestion in all health facilities. The public concern is that the current setup lacks confidentiality because anyone can tell an HIV patient by where they get their drugs from and the colour of their medical cards.

On other issues, Dr Malefho said the under expenditure in the 2013/14 development budget was due to the fact that a lump some of the budget that was spared for the construction of Shakawe Primary Hospital was not used because the project never took off.

He said of the P95 million that was allocated, only 33 per cent was used, adding that, the delay, including that of the refurbishment of four old hospitals of Serowe, Maun, Molepolole and Mahalapye, was due to economic challenges.

He said the refurbishment of hospitals was a project run by MIST, saying, however, that he was hopeful the project would start this financial year.

Dr Malefho said all the old hospitals would be turned into clinics to augment the services offered by the newly built hospitals.

He further said in Maun the new and bigger facility was far from the village hence the old hospital would serve as a 24-hour clinic, and that the other section would serve as offices for district health management team offices.

He said the Scottish Livingstone Hospital in Molepolole would be used as a Harvard laboratory and ARV investigation research centre while the Mahalapye Hospital would serve as an ambulance services headquarters.

Members of the PAC commended the ministry for extending the roll out of ARV services to areas where they were not accessed beforeShe said her government has also done well during the economic meltdown as it emerged stronger from the crisis and was willing to share its experience with Botswana for future reference. Ends