19 Mar 2015

The Assistant Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Madigele, says he is aware of the shortage of nurses and doctors at Bamalete Lutheran Hospital (BLH) in Ramotswa.

“There is a complement of 17 medical officers and out of these 14 are filled. The other three still remain to be filled as we post and recruit,” he added.

Dr Madigele told Parliament on March 18 that none of the doctors fell under the ministry’s establishment. For the nurses, he said the total complement was 147 of which 86 were in the establishment, adding that out of the 86 posts, 17 were vacant and continued to fill them.

The Integrated Patient Management System, Dr Madigele said was installed in BLH on November 8, 2014. At its inception, the assistant minister said the programme experienced teething problems particularly patient delays, which he said were being addressed.

Patient delays in registration, Dr Madigele said were caused by the need for the users to familiarise themselves with the system following its introduction. Initially, he said the users were not conversant enough with the system, adding that they were now able to use the programme.

The other problems, he said were staff shortages and sporadic power cuts that required resorting to downtime forms. Three registry clerks, Dr Madigele said were not adequate enough to handle the influx of patients that came to the hospital, adding that clerks had been increased by two.

The minister was responding to a question from the MP for Ramotswa, Mr Samuel Rantuana who wanted to know if Dr Madigele was aware of shortage of doctors and nurses at BLH and what was being done about it.

The Ramotswa legislator also wanted to know if the assistant minister was aware that the new computerised registration system was exacerbating the situation by causing severe delays in terms of consultations by health personnel. ENDS