31 Mar 2015

The bed occupancy at Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital is about 80 per cent.

However, there are some specialised wards such as the antenatal ward where some patients sleep on mattresses on the floor. Assistant Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Madigele said this when responding to a question in Parliament on March 30.

Dr Madigele said the hospital had 542 bed capacity, adding that  patients in specialised wards such as the antenatal ward were high dependency patients who required specialised attention hence they could not be referred home or to a clinic with maternity.

“The average statistics for out-patients currently visiting the hospital on a daily basis in 2015 is 400 patients per day. Out-patients are individuals who were either seen at accident and emergency and not admitted or referred to specialist out-patient clinics such as pediatrics, internal medicine, general surgery, urology amongst others,” he said.

Dr Madigele said the ministry was giving priority to preventive services that included early screening, diagnosis and treatment at lower level facilities. He said this required appropriate staffing, skills and training as well as equipment in the facilities.

He said several initiatives were ongoing to decongest the referral hospital such as the relocation of orthopedic and ophthalmology services from Nyangabgwe to Mahalapye and Serowe respectively.

Dr Madigele said his ministry continued to open and resume 24 hours clinics to assist members of the public with services normally available in the hospital. The assistant minister said currently, 24 hours clinic were operating in Francistown namely Area W, Gerald and Jubilee clinics. He said there was a 24 hours clinic in Tati Siding.

MP for Francistown West, Mr Ignatius Moswaane had asked the minister to state the number of registered deaths in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively. He asked the minister to state the admission capacity at the hospital and why some patients were sleeping on the floor.

Mr Moswaane wanted to know statistics for out-patients currently visiting the hospital on a daily basis and also what the minister was doing to remedy the situation to cater for the large community of Francistown which was complaining about inadequate number of hospitals in the city. ENDS