04 Jul 2016

Chobe district health management team is to get P300 000 for maintenance of ceilings, door locks and other general components at Kasane primary hospital.

This comes after several complaints on the state of the hospital by the area councillors in the previous full council sessions.

Briefing the full council session on Wednesday, the Assistant Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Madigele said given that Chobe district had a challenging terrain, one of the ten 4 x 4 vehicles will be allocated to the district.

Regarding the maintenance contract with a company named Stobek, whose work ethic councillors had previously complained about, Dr Madigele said the ministry had decided to part ways with it as of August 2015.

“Since the company was not performing to the agreed set schedule, we decided to terminate its contract and divide maintenance into major and minor works for better efficiency,” he said.

He noted that another measure they undertook was to reduce the number of District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) from 27 to 18 to maintain efficiency levels.

Minister Madigele announced that since Satau health post was in a bad state with the ceiling infested with bat droppings, the ministry has decided that the staff be evacuated and ceiling removed to clean the structure as it had now become a hazard to both patients and staff alike.

Regarding power outages at Pandamatenga clinic, he told the council that a backup generator will be purchased to address the situation.

He also noted that the X-ray machine at Kasane Primary hospital will be repaired as it was exposing staff and patients to a lot of radiation. “I can assure you that the tender is being adjudicated upon and will be awarded soon,” he said.

Dr Madigele also added that as a ministry they wanted to retrace their steps to primary healthcare to ensure that nurses went back to outpatient care to follow up on Tuberculosis and other patients at home. “We often look back at the past with nostalgia, and we believe that too much emphasis should not be in the structures but in the services rendered,” the minister said.

Councillor for Kasane Central Mr Sharps Munihango complained about the long distance that patients and their caregivers have to travel when referred to specialists.

He also complained about dirty linen at the Kasane Primary hospital over excuses such as lack of laundry powder. When responding to concerns, Minister Madigele advised that the hospital must have enough linen to be able to change linens even in such scenarios. He further said that they will have visiting specialists for areas such as Kasane which are far off. ENDS