25 Oct 2016

Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness Mr Dikgang Makgalemele has implored the management of Mahalapye Hospital to find innovative ways of tackling their challenges.

During his visit to the hospital recently, Mr Makgalemele, who is also MP for Shoshong, said the hospital should find other cost effective means of addressing issues that affect them.

He also made an appeal for the hospital staff to up their game and improve the way they serve the public, noting that the government’s ten-point-agenda initiative and customer service standards should be adhere to at all costs.

He said they should also respect their customers, give feedback, and maintain professionalism.

Mr Makgalemele noted that often their customers’ cried of poor service at hospitals and clinics; as such, he asked them to display their service standards to avoid queries.

He said public education was very vital and the fact that the medical facility dealt with many people meant that they should make sure that referrals and bookings did not take long.

The assistant minister also advised the DHMT to support local businesses from where they can get services and certain products that they may need.
He said they also needed to find ways of attracting the private sector to Mahalapye so that they too could help where necessary.

Mr Makgalemele said he was aware that the hospital was faced with many challenges with areas of concern being shortage of transport and staff houses which often demoralize employees.

He advised them that addressing such challenges, especially that of transport, needed proper planning because it was surprising that the hospital has a fleet of 10 ambulances yet only three on the road.

Further, he explained that the government was also doing all it can to make sure that nurses and doctors in the country also benefited from government initiatives more so that they are part of essential services.

When briefing the Assistant Minister, Mahalapye Hospital acting superintendent Dr Tshepo Machacha said Mahalapye DHMT has 43 facilities being two hospitals, Mahalapye District Hospital and Sefhare Primary Hospital, 12 clinics and 28 health posts.

Dr Machacha said the team also served 29 mobile stops, mostly in the western sandveldt areas.

Dr Machacha said their main challenge was shortage of staff accommodation . ENDS