17 Jul 2014

President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has informed residents of Goshwe in Tutume Sub-district that government’s determination to address challenges at the Ministry of Education and Skills Development has resulted in delays in completing some planned projects.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Goshwe on July 17, President Khama said since 2008 when the country experienced an economic downturn, many projects were deferred. 

The economic meltdown, he noted, occurred at a time when he had just announced that all health posts around the country would be upgraded to clinics. Owing to this challenge, President Khama said the decision to upgrade clinics had to be postponed indefinitely.

However, he informed residents that since the economy was starting to improve, government had since earmarked 2015 as the year to improve the health sector.

The President was responding to a concern raised by Kgosi Buendasi Mbenga and the Village Development Committee chairman, Mr Rebobone Molebi who requested that their health post be upgraded to a clinic and for Tutume Primary Hospital to be refurbished and expanded to accommodate the high population from the sub-district.

President Khama further informed them that unlike in the past financial years, funds would now be channeled to the health ministry as a way of addressing current challenges. 

The President also informed his audience that last year he sent a team from the ministry to assess the state of affairs at primary hospitals. “The feedback I received was that the primary hospital was in a bad state and needed to be refurbished,” said President Khama.

In addition, the Assistant Minister of Health, Dr Gloria Somolekae said Goshwe health post should have been upgraded to a clinic as per the growth of their population which increased from 1 000 to 1 500 but because of shortage of funds this did not happen. 

She, nonetheless, pointed out that since the economy was starting to show signs of improvement, their health post would be among the first to be attended to.

Regarding the Tutume Primary Hospital, the assistant minister said the plan for the construction of a new hospital had been included in the national development plan. 

However, she assured them that in the meantime, the hospital will be refurbished with the addition of a new ward and an increase in beds to accommodate the high volume of patients.

She further said once the new hospital was completed, the current hospital would be turned into a 24-hour service clinic to reduce congestion at the new facility.

Meanwhile, the VDC chairman complained that they did not have an ambulance after it was boarded in 2010. In response, Dr Somolekae said the vehicle which replaced the boarded ambulance had been at the garage since March this year, but explained that they had been promised that it will be out before the end of July.

For their part, residents appreciated and commended the President for poverty eradication programmes. Despite the challenges which they encountered as result of the bad state of their main road connecting them to their service centre in Tutume, residents stated that they were living better lives. ENDS