04 Apr 2017

Parliament has been informed that there are five vacant posts for nurses and three for medical doctors due to transfers at Letlhakane Primary Hospital.

Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele said this in response to a question by the MP for Boteti East, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe. Mr Makgalemele said the ministry was in the process of replacing the transferred nurses and recruiting doctors to fill the vacancies by the end of May 2017, and that one nurse was appointed to act for the vacant post of principal nursing officer 1.

“There are five doctors covering Boteti East, including one relieving doctor. Two doctors are currently on end of contract leave. Because of the shortage of medical officers, cluster coverage by doctors has been temporarily reduced from a weekly to fortnightly visits,” he said.

The situation, the assistant minister said, “is expected to improve with the filling of the five nurse vacancies and the resumption of duty of the medical officers currently on leave in April and May 2017 respectively.”

He added that his ministry was concluding the recruitment of three medical officers for Boteti. The Boteti East MP wanted to know how many vacant posts exist at Boteti East constituency clinics and hospitals, and where these posts were and what was the ministry doing to close the gap.

He also wanted to know how these shortages have affected the service in these clinics or hospitals and whether the Boteti East situation would improve any time soon. ENDS