29 Nov 2017

Acting superintendent of Sekgoma Memorial hospital Dr Tshepo Machacha says Serowe has been selected to house a national rehabilitation centre.

Mr Machacha was briefing Serowe Administrative sub councillors during the tour of Sekgoma Memorial Hospital recently.

“Part of the facilities at the Institute of Health Science (IHS) and Old Sekgoma Memorial Hospital is under maintenance to assist those under acute condition,” he said.

Dr Machacha said drugs had a major effect in the psychological illnesses affecting most youth, saying to that effect government was putting in place some measures to fight drug abuse.

He also said the Old Sekgoma Memorial Hospital was being renovated to provide a 24 hour service for patients, saying the move was to relief overcrowding of patients at the current hospital and encourage patients to visit clinics instead of the hospitals.

Dr Machacha said Sekgoma Memorial Hospital would also provide specialist services, catering only for patients on referral.

“The maintenance will be completed around June and the hospital will be on operation at a later stage.

“As a way of encouraging patients to visit clinics we have converted Newtown Clinic to operate as a 12 hour clinic, closing at 8 pm.

The clinic has a doctor and two family nurse practitioners stationed there,” he said. He however advised that the family nurse practitioners, had extensive knowledge of their work and cautioned that patients needed not to underestimate them.

Further, Dr Machacha noted that they were saddened by the growing number of young women who engage in illegal abortions.

He pleaded with councillors to assist in advising the community about the danger of illegal abortion, adding that mostly traditional medicines were used.

“What is sad about this is that those who assist to induce such medicine are the people who live amongst us. We need to go out and stop this, please help us,” he said.

On another issue Dr Machacha highlighted that the hospital has been accredited by the Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA).

He said this was an entry level grading made following an external survey which was conducted in January 2017 by the council as part of the agreement with the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

“COHSASA is the only internationally accredited quality improvement and accreditation body for healthcare facilities based in Africa but is not limited to hospitals and clinics in Southern Africa to meet and maintain quality standards,” he said.

“The COHSASA approach teaches healthcare workers how to monitor improvements using quality improvements methods, internationally accreditated standards as a web based information system,” he said.

Dr Machacha said currently there were two hospitals which had received full accreditation, which were Mahalapye Hospital and Scottish Livingstone Hospital, while the clinics included Airstrip and Xhosa clinic.

In addition, he said, there was an eye campaign which was on going in which they were providing eye care services to help in reduction of cataract backlog.

“MoH has signed a three year contract with Dr Shroffs Charity Eye Hospital, which is a non-profit making organisation in India. The team comprises of three Ophthalmologist, two Optometrists, five theatre technicians, who visits Botswana twice a year to perform 1000 cataract surgeries per visit, with the help of local Ophthalmologist, Ophthalmic nurses from different facilities,” he said.

Dr Machacha further said the team started on October 30, adding that the plan was to operate 1200 patients.

He said so far they have operated 890 patients, from across the country. Dr Machacha then stated that doors were open for people to come for surgery, but decried low turn-up of people in Serowe and surrounding villages, citing that, they were reluctant as a result of other commitment.

“I would like to appeal to you councillors, to encourage our people to take advantage of these services, when they are accorded a chance, as this is an opportunity which comes once in a while,” he said.

He further advised councillors that there were sufficient doctors for the festive season as they had more doctor trainees.

Dr Machacha also noted that stray cats had invaded the hospital, saying precautionary measures were to be put in place to reduce their numbers.

For her part, when giving an update on drug availability, chief phamacist, Ms Ola Oladiran, said they were currently running short of drugs.

“We source our entire medication from the Central Medical Store, but over the past two years we have been experiencing challenges with supply,” she indicated.

She further noted that, they only conducted micro procurement for minor items, as the budget was not sufficient to buy in bulk.

“Our patients have been very patient and considerate towards us, but we are doing all we can to avail medicine and provide excellent service delivery,” she said. BOPA