02 Mar 2016

Health  minister, Ms Dorcas Makgato, has told the Francistown full council meeting that a district hospital is one of the projects proposed in the National Development Plan 11 (NDP 11)

The minister, however, said the plan was still pending approval adding that other proposed projects in the greater Francistown included expansion of Mathangwane clinic to include out patient pepartment and maternity wing, construction of emergency medical services station, construction of Borolong clinic and the Tonota polyclinic.

She said 92 clinics in the country would be upgraded to varied levels through the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP), adding that she was hopeful that some of the facilities in Francistown would be catered for. 

She said under the ESP, 535 staff houses would be built across the country.

Ms Makgato said provision of drugs had improved from where it was last year. 

She indicated that the ministry had decentralised the purchase of minor drugs to district level and each district was allocated P150 000 for such.

The minister said she was aware that some of the challenges in the greater Francistown were lack of anesthetics and shortage of equipment at the Jubilee Dental Clinic.

She explained that the lack of anesthetics lecturer in the Institutes of Health Sciences led to the problem.

On other issues, Minister Makgato said last year, 42 doctors resigned from the public service and the ministry was benchmarking in the neighbouring countries to see what could be done to retain the doctors.

She told the councillors that as part of improving service delivery in the health facilities, her ministry engaged in organisational transformation, paradigm shift from curative to preventative, sustainable quality health care services and Economic Diversification Drive.

The council’s education and health committee chairperson, Councillor Joe Gunda said councillors were concerned about the shortage of drugs in the health facilities.

Councillor Gunda indicated that having one central point for ambulances had caused a lot of inconveniences for the residents of Francistown.

He further appealed to the ministry to make sure that generators at all the 24-hour service clinics in Francistown were attended to and that all malfunctioning equipment at the Jubilee Clinic was maintained.

Councillor Gunda requested that the district hospital issue be urgently attended to in order to address congestion at Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital.  Ends