30 Nov 2015

The Minister of Health, Ms Dorcas Makgato, says her ministry is going through transformation period of providing a sustainable, accessible, affordable and high quality health care system. 

Speaking at the Botswana Dental Association Congress in Gaborone, Ms Makgato said the transformation was necessitated by unsustainability of health care services, mismatch between health care outcomes and resources provided, public dissatisfaction with the current system and existing challenges such as staff shortages and poor work ethics and over centralised system. 

“I am happy that going forward our efforts will be focused on areas such as organisational transformation, quality health care services and preventative health care approach among others,” she said. 

Ms Makgato said the BODEA congress came at a time when Vision 2016 was coming to an end and consultations for Vision 2036 launched. 

She said issues addressed at the congress such as policy, radiation control, evidenced based dentistry and medico-legal matters are very crucial in modern dentistry and the whole health profession which might affect service delivery if not attended to. 

Ms Malesu called for the professionals to continue upgrading their qualifications, saying there are other specialisation areas other than general dentists, dental therapists and dental technicians which are already available in the country. 

“The country is inundated by school leavers who lack opportunity to further their studies because of limited options. By promoting additional specialties, you will not only be growing the profession in Botswana, but also playing your role in assisting government in creating employment as well as empowering the youth,” she said. 

She encouraged BODEA to be fully involved in the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) because it provided them opportunities where they could influence government on training and manpower requirements of the nation.  Ends