18 Feb 2015

The Assistant Minister of Health Dr Alfred Madigele had told Parliament that there are no plans of relocating the services of orthopaedics, cardiology and ophthalmology to Nyangabgwe Hospital. 

Responding to a question, Dr Madigele said the Botswana government took a decision to establish centres of excellence that would provide a wider spectrum of specialist services to improve patient outcomes.

He said the implementation of the decision resulted in relocation of certain services from Nyangabgwe Hospital and Princess Marina Hospital, which he said also assisted in decongesting the two hospitals.

Dr Madigele also said the construction of a district hospital in Francistown was earmarked for implementation in the National Development 10 but could not be carried out because of financial constraints, saying funds permitting it would be considered together with other priorities for NDP 11.

Francistown West MP, Mr Ignatius Moswaane had asked if the minister is aware that Nyangabgwe is a referral Hospital for the entire Northern Region but some services such as optical and orthopaedic services have been relocated to Mahalapye, Serowe and Maun hospitals. 

He also wanted to know if the minister would normalise the situation by taking services back to Nyangabgwe to allow easy access by majority of the people. 

Mr Moswaane further wanted to know when the ministry was planning to build a district hospital as requested by the city of Francistown, saying the current situation has left Nyangabgwe Hospital in an unacceptable state whereby the hospital cannot meet services standards and deliver quality services. ENDS