13 Mar 2017

Displaying service standards, rights and responsibility of customers visiting medical facilities is a priority, Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness Mr Dikgang Makgalemele has said.

Addressing Scottish Livingstone Hospital (SLH) management in Molepolole , he said for the hospital to be trusted by clients must operate in an open and accountable manner where clients knew what to expect and what was expected from them.

The visit to SLH was part of a familiarisation tour of the ministry facilities to appreciate challenges faced by the institutions.

The assistant minister called for visibility of service standards, rights and obligations of clients.

He commended the hospital for consistently operating and offering the best youth clinic to a target group in the majority of the national population.

He also applauded the hospital for achieving COHSASA accreditation standards despite challenges like lack of personnel, infrastructure and equipment maintenance and mass transfers which were reported to have disturbed service delivery.

Mr Makgalemele said the ministry was equally concerned by shortage of transport across Botswana medical facilities.

He said the ministry cannot afford to fail to provide a critical service because the ambulance was being used for other non-medical services, “ideally an ambulance should remain such and not perform any other duty, but this is not happening because of shortage of transport,” he said.

Earlier when briefing the assistant minister SLH superintendent, Dr Kitenge Kalenga said the hospital faced a lot of challenges such as backlog of maintenance, unpaid overtime and that the outsourced companies (cleaning-about P429 000, security- P368 000 and laundry-P182 000) have not been paid since January this year.

The assistant minister was also informed that accommodation for the 450 personnel was still a challenge and that the drugs availability at SLH and clinics in the Kweneng East DHMT were below the 97 per cent target.

“The district pharmacy warehouse is also below the set target of 97 per cent as there a lot of stock outs at the Central Medical Store. Further there are insufficient funds for micro procurement.

Molepolole is also the biggest village in Botswana, so when planning don’t forget the population size of the village in allocating needed resources,” Dr Kalenga will say.

He however said SHL was a centre of excellence for Cardiac and Ophthalmology treatment which had come as a relief to Princess Marina Hospital for referrals across the country.

DHT head responsible for clinics, Ms Motse Moamogwe pleaded with the Mr Makgalemele to consider upgrading Gamodubu clinic which was be overwhelmed by increasing numbers of clients.

She said the four roomed facility built through the efforts of the community did not offer enough operating space and as such needed to improved and that the average 84 per cent drug availability as opposed to the district target of 97 per cent .

In closing area MP for Molepolole South Dr Tlamelo Mmatli, commended the visit by the assistant minister and talking strengthening community health structures which were critical to enhancing medical provision.

He said probing by the assistant minster on issues such as rights of patients and service standards display would help the hospital improve and have measures in place to offer friendly service to customers. ENDS