31 Jan 2018

Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Thato Kwerepe has thanked staff at Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital for their efforts in saving lives.

He was speaking on January 30 after visiting the three injured soccer players who were involved in an accident along the Gumare/Sehithwa road on Friday while travelling to a tournament. The accident claimed five lives.The three were transferred to Nyangabgwe to receive medical attention. The assistant minister was accompanied by officials from the city council, district commissioner’s office and Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA)Fund.

Mr Kwerepe also thanked MVA, noting that they played a crucial role in the society by providing the much needed support during accidents.
“We are hopeful that they will be well even though one of them was still critical,” he said.  The assistant minister also got the opportunity to visit two children aged 11 and 13 of Nokaneng who were also admitted at the hospital after being hit by a car.

He appealed for support from Batswana to make contributions towards funeral expenses for the deceased’s families.
However, he cautioned people to be careful and only donate through the district commissioner’s office in Gumare and the Office of the President through the office of the permanent secretary. He discouraged them from giving money to individuals who claim to be collecting funds on social media.

Nyangabgwe hospital superintendent, Dr Mareko Ramotsababa, who took the assistant minister on a tour of the wards where the accident victims were admitted, explained that they received three male patients and placed two at the intensive care unit while one was admitted at the male surgical ward as his injuries were not that bad.

“After sometime the other patient who was at the ICU improved and started communicating,” he explained. Dr Ramotsababa highlighted that one of the patients was still in a critical condition. For his part, MVA northern region branch manager, Mr Kite Nkala express regret at the loss of life and injuries suffered by the victims.
 

He also mentioned that travelling at night carried a lot of risk, noting that the past week alone the country lost 23 people while in January, 41 people lost their lives to road accidents. Mr Nkala added that MVA assisted families of road accident victims with funeral expenses and also assisted when there has been a loss of support.  

“We also need political will to change the attitudes of drivers on our roads, which is the main cause of accidents,” he said.     
Francistown deputy mayor, Councillor Godisang Radisigo also reiterated the fact that accidents were a cost to the economy, noting that people should ensure that cars were roadworthy before embarking on long journeys.

On other issues, he asserted that the time had come to stop transporting people on open vans. Ends