27 Sep 2015

The Assistant Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Madigele, has applauded Boitekanelo Emergency Medical Services (BEMS) for recognising that pre-hospital care should not only focus on emergency.

Dr Maidigele said this when delivering a keynote address at the launch of BEMS in Gaborone. “It is encouraging to note that BEMS’s strategy is premised on the principles of primary health care, which auger well with my ministry’s objective of preventative care.  It is indeed true that the old mantra that says prevention is better than cure is relevant even in the 21st century,” he said.

The assistant minister explained that public private partnerships were when companies were willing to free their human resources to identify, expand or replicate successful partnership models.

“Today we are here to witness the beginning of an array of services that are going to go a long way in augmenting services provided by my ministry, which is a true example of PPPs,” he said.  

Dr Madigele explained that, just a year ago, Boitekanelo College hosted an emergency medicine conference, which highlighted that community education and agency building were central to emergency care systems and highlighted that primary prevention was critical.

“From the college, we see the birth of BEMS that is responding to the findings of the conference, a true reflection of today’s theme of translating knowledge into practice,” he said.

While providing an overview of BEMS, The chief executive officer for BEMS, Dr Tiroyaone Mampane said, It was of no doubt that Emergency Medical Services remained critical to the livelihood of every society, which called for robust, concerted effort in Emergency Medical Care.

“This night we shall witness the official emergence of Boitekanelo Emergency Medical Services which shall affectionately resound as BEMS in all households,” he said.

Dr Mampane said they were driven by the need to combat, increased trauma cases from road traffic accidents, occupational injuries, self-inflicted injuries, burns, adding that, road traffic accidents were among the top 10 leading causes of deaths in Botswana as per World Health Organisation (WHO) studies, while Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA) 2013 annual report of 2014, showed that 64% of all crashes occur in and around Gaborone.

He added that there was shortage of health care professionals especially paramedics, doctors and critical care nurses hence our mandate and commitment as a group to address the gap by offering training in health care disciplines “Emergency Medicine is about to begin and the chapter is premised on what is known as BE-SPOKE SERVICES, which included, Be-spoke Pre-Hospital Healthcare plan, Be-spoke Pre-Hospital Student

Healthcare plan, Be-spoke Pre-Hospital Mobile Health Net and Remote Site Clinic,” he said. He said BE SPOKE was derived from evidence-based knowledge that for every patient one has to apply himself because in emergency medicine there is no one size fits all, of which it was meant to encourage team members to always adhere to the golden rule that each patient requires individual attention.

“We are bringing an innovative solution to the Aero Medical Space by introducing a rotor wing aircraft, which will be stationed in Gaborone. Needless to say this brings added convenience as it is able to service hard to reach areas and shorten response times,” he said.

Dr Mampane stated that, BEMS boasted of a robust skill-mixed team of highly qualified and experienced healthcare professionals who have demonstrated their valuable competencies in the landscape of emergency medical services over the years.

“These professionals include paramedics, trauma nurses, critical care nurses and doctors who enable us to competently offer wide range of extended services. A distinct blend of these professionals coupled with our investment in the state of the art equipment positions us to serve our clientele to industry standards,” he said.  ENDS