29 Sep 2017

Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele has called for the resuscitation of village health committees (VHC), saying they were instrumental in promoting primary health care at the community level.

Addressing Kang Clinic staff and village health committees during his tour of the clinic on September 26, Mr Makgalemele said the strengthening of VHC would help create an understanding amongst the people on how best they could organise themselves to prevent diseases and promote healthy living.

He noted that 15-20 per cent of health matters was attributed to clinical assistance from health service providers, and that 80 per cent was attributed to the support a patient got from their family to recuperate well.

The Shoshong MP further said for them to work effectively, they should work closely with health providers for easy facilitation in addressing the health needs of the community.

Furthermore, he encouraged health providers to speed up the payment process for home based care providers, as a way of building their capacity.

Moreover, he encouraged the committee to educate the public about the importance of health and wellness as well as encouraging them to change their lifestyle and adopt healthy lifestyles.

He also urged them to encourage every household in their locality to have abackyard garden and to exercise on a daily basis to guard against chronic diseases that have taken a toll on the health sector.

On other issues, Mr Makgalemele encouraged governmental department to share resources in order to promote good service delivery in their area.

In her welcome remarks, Kgosi Basadi Seipone lauded the assistant minister for his visit, saying they were faced with many challenges related to health that needed their intervention.

She said their village was a transit village and that the clinic received an influx of patients and needed to be upgraded and become a full-fledged health facility.

For his part, Dr Kwiratwitwe Kutungu said the Kang Clinic served as a mother clinic to six villages with an estimated population of over 11 000.

He said Kang has an estimated population of 6 570, Phuduhudu 656, Inalegolo 648, Motokwe 2 139, Tsetseng 510 and Khekhenye 501.

Dr Kutungu also said they were under staffed as they operated with only two doctors.

He said they faced shortage of supporting staff, lack of protective clothing and poor progression of staff.

He also said they needed a laundry machine, water distiller and ultra sound machine.

For her part, Kang home based care chairperson, Ms Kereemang Pego said they took care of 30 patients in the village, and that 21 were registered while nine were unregistered.

With regard to the large number of patients, she said they were faced with challenges such as the lack of wheel chairs and walking and supporting sticks for patients as well as rubbing ointments.

Ms Pego also said they needed protective clothing to use when handling patients.

Meanwhile, Ms Margaret Mantswemabe said their village health committee had collapsed due to lack of incentives to motivate them to conduct their duties effectively as well as lack of cooperation with health service providers.

In response, Mr Makgalemeele lauded the Kang Clinic staff for being committed in their duties despite working under challenging conditions that entailed lack of accommodation, shortage of transport, low drug availability and poor progression.

He said the ministry was working round the clock to address their situations.

As for the lack of incentives for VHC’s, he said they were aware of the inactive committee, and he encouraged them to embark on different projects that could assist them to raise funds for the success of operating the committee while the government was still considering the matter to see how best they could assist them.

He also encouraged them to abide by the ten point agenda, uphold botho and offer instant feedback to their customers as well as to go an extra mile in cases that needed urgency.

Mr Makgalemele also toured the Kang Clinic facilities as well as Matsha College school kitchen, and encouraged the Department of Buildings and Engineering Services (DBES) to speed up the construction of the temporary kitchen as student’s life were at risk of air borne diseases since the current structure was not suitable for handling food. ENDS