07 Aug 2014

The Ngamiland community has been urged to take advantage of the new initiative that is aimed at preventing blindness amongst diabetic patients.

The initiative, which has been installed at Letsholathebe II Memorial Hospital in Maun is a donation from Addenbrooks Abroad, a United States (US) based company and Standard Chartered International in partnership with the Ministry of Health to screen all patients with sugar diabetes to identify eye problems.

It has been installed at four health facilities around the country; Letsholathebe, Donga clinic in Francistown, Sekgoma Memorial Hospital in Serowe and Block 6 clinic in Gaborone.

The head of the Ngami District Health Management Team, Dr Christopher Chembe told the media on Tuesday that one of the complications of sugar diabetes is blindness, hence the need to constantly check diabetes patients for any signs of eye problems.

He said diabetes is the abnormal utilisation of sugar by the body and if it accumulates, it causes loss of sight. Dr Chembe appealed to the public to visit the health facilities and do the screening of the sight early so that the disease could be prevented in time.

He also pointed out that diabetes is becoming a public health concern hence government is coming up with interventions to control the situation and save lives.

“If we are not careful, we would have more deaths from diabetes and hypertension and as health practitioners, we are duty bound to protect our communities,” he added.

Dr Chembe said the equipment caters for patients from Gumare, Ghanzi, Gweta and Rakops and targets assisting 20 patients per day.

Meanwhile, the ophthalmic nurse, Ms Colleen Galekgorwe regretted that while the equipment started operating in May, only 98 patients have been screened, which she said is far below their target. She said out of 98, four patients were referred to be seen by an eye specialist.

She encouraged diabetic patients to visit the facility for screening, saying that Fridays are reserved for patients from outside.

Ms Galekgorwe observed that they had already encountered challenges as people are reluctant to come for screening just because they do not see any problem with their sight.

On other issues, Dr Chembe warned the community about the floods, saying that chances of having diarrhea are quite high.

He said most of the villages are under siege and some residents use pit latrines and villagers are most likely at risk of contracting diarrhea as some drink from the river.

Dr Chembe called on mothers to take their children to health facilities should they have an outbreak of diarrhea rather than consulting traditional healers because they cannot assist them when they are dehydrated. ENDS