21 Mar 2013

The Minister of Health, Dr John Seakgosing says his ministry is aware that a lot of resources necessary for proper service delivery were in short supply throughout the country.

However, Dr Seakgosing appealed to MPs to understand the predicament government was facing due to shortage of funds.

He was responding to MPs’ contributions to the budget proposal of the ministry of Health in Parliament.

Though there was a serious shortage of ambulances across all health facilities; he said it was worth noting that some District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) had recently received some ambulances.

Though this was a mere drop in the ocean, he indicated that it was a sign that something was being done to try and normalise the situation.

The minister also decried the general lack of care by some drivers in the entire government system; which he said exacerbated the shortage of vehicles that government was currently grappling with.

Minister Seakgosing, who is also MP for Kweneng South said the electrification of health facilities and staff houses was ongoing.

He also pointed out that it was government’s intention to upgrade health facilities as well as roll-out ARV services to all health centres.

He indicated that the roll-out of the ARV services would help monitor adherence to medication as there was a likelihood of some patients on therapy failing to receive their medication as scheduled due to having to travel long distances to health centres which provide such services.

On the request by Tonota North MP, Mr Fidelis Molao that the Sebina and Mathangwane clinics operate for 24 hours, the minister said depending on the availability of staff, such a development would be effected in the next financial year.

On clustering of villages to ease access to health services, he pointed out that currently there were 183 clusters, 139 of which have doctors.

He stated that the country was finding it excessively difficult to recruit doctors due to low salaries offered.

Meanwhile, Parliament approved a recurrent budget totaling over P4 billion (P4 416 340 600) and a sum over P133 million (P133 026 000) as the development budget for the MoH for the 201314 financial year. ENDS