16 Feb 2015

Botswana and China have signed a protocol on the 14th China Medical Team to work in Botswana.

Speaking during the signing of the memorandum, the Minister of Health, Ms Dorcas Makgato, said the signing of the protocol meant that China would send the next medical team to Botswana to continue to help Botswana to deliver quality clinical service.

Ms Makgato thanked the Chinese government saying medicine and health-care had long been one of the top priority areas in China’s assistance to Botswana. 

Ms Makgato highlighted that the two countries had a long history, which dated back to 1981, saying she was happy to note that so far Botswana had received 373 health personnel from the bilateral agreement they had.

The 14th China Medical Team, she noted, brought the total to 419.  She stated that Botswana had made significant strides regarding access to specialised health services for citizens because of the Chinese government support. 

She said China had not only provided Botswana with specialised medical personnel, but had also extended assistance towards capacity building by providing scholarships for short and long term training in different health programmes particularly in Medicine, Nursing, Laboratory Sciences, HIV/AIDS and Pharmacy. 

The minister said the strategic partnership between China and Botswana featured political equality and mutual trust, economic cooperation and cultural exchanges has been established through the signing of the 13 medical teams over the past 34 years. 

She said it is in the best interest of Botswana as a country to continue to look out for opportunities that China might provide, so as to engage different strategic partners in China, not only at country level but also with institutions and organizations that can assist Botswana to improve her health care services and achieve health set goals. 

Botswana as a developing country, she noted, such initiatives in exchange, internships and partnerships from China would benefit the country in a variety of ways especially in specialized areas. 

She said the coming of the 14th Team would also close gaps especially at the two national referral hospitals being Princess Marina and Nyangabgwe respectively. 

For his part the Ambassador of China to Botswana Mr Zheng Zhuqiang, said the China Medical Team is committed to improving the general level of Botswana people’s health. 

He appreciated the opportunity for China to operate in Botswana saying for the past 34 years, health professionals from China have used their expertise and professional ethics to fight against diseases and therefore saved numerous lives.

Mr Zhuqiang also said the Chinese Government will continue to provide Botswana with medical scholarships, training opportunities as well as vital equipment as their capacity allows. 

He also stated that last month, the Chinese side proposed to MoH to donate 6 Modularized Container Clinics to Botswana, saying he hopes both sides would work closely to push forward this project and make it happen as soon as possible.

He said alongside daily clinical services, China also shares health techniques and clinical experiences with their Botswana counterparts. 

He promised that the next medical team will not only bring the same high standard professional techniques, but also the same high standard working ethics, saying he believes they would ever make more contributions to the development of Botswana. 

Mr Zhuqiang stated that China and Botswana have enjoyed long standing friendship and cooperation, not only cooperate in health, but also other areas like trade, investment, agriculture as well as technology. 

In his closing remarks, the Assistant Minister for health Dr Alfred Madigele expressed gratitude saying the 14th China Medical Team will be coming to bridge gaps in Botswana’s health system and continue the good work that the previous team was doing. 

Dr Madigele also mentioned that the collaboration has contributed great assistance to a number of medical challenges Botswana has, and therefore said their effort is highly commendable.

He stated that Botswana is among the best performing developing countries in health outcomes and human development indices, and this is evidenced by the efforts like the one that the ministry had just signed with China.  ENDS