06 Sep 2015

The Minister of Health, Ms Dorcus Makgato, has informed residents of Letlhakeng that she is aware of shortage of staff, including doctors at Letlhakeng clinic.

Speaking at a kgotla meeting addressed by President Lt. Gen Seretse Khama Ian Khama in Letlhakeng recently, Ms Makgato said the challenge was not only peculiar to Letlhakeng, but was evident in most health facilities across the country.

She said there were only five doctors at the clinic, of which one would be resigning soon, while another would leave for further studies, leaving the already stretched clinic with only three doctors.

She, however, promised that they would try by all means to replace the two doctors as soon as possible.

Ms Makgato also informed the residents that the ministry was aware of health professionals who left for greener pastures, saying recently they had increased salaries of professionals such as midwives as a way of trying to retain them.

She also informed them that, just like many development projects across the country, the primary hospital that was planned for their village was deferred as a result of the economic recession.

She said while her ministry was awaiting funds to upgrade many health facilities across the country, they would try to resource them with both equipment and human resource to improve the services.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Lands and Housing, Mr Prince Maele informed the residents that his ministry would soon service land through public private partnerships, which would help relieve government of the burden of servicing new layout plots before allocation.

He said his ministry ceased infills because some people reserved such spaces for their relatives or children, a practice that created friction as citizens who were allocated through the infill system were more or less jumping the queue.

The ministers were responding after the Letlhakeng Village Development Committee chairperson, Mr Rahim Batshwaregi decried the congestion at the Letlhakeng clinic, which he said was too small for the area, saying the facility was also short of staff.  Ends