21 Mar 2018

Funds allocated to the Bamalete Lutheran Hospital through the Ministry of Health and Wellness were insufficient to cover the financial year.

That was said by the Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele when responding to a question by Ramotswa MP Mr Samuel Rantuana on Tuesday.

Mr Makgalemele said since the funds were released on a quarterly basis, the vote was normally depleted by the fourth quarter.

He said as a short term remedy at the end of the third quarter, funds from slow spending votes were utilised to close this resource gap or otherwise cancel GPOs that might not be paid at the end of the financial year.

He said in December 2017, supplementary funds were requested from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, adding however that only P10 million out of the P13 million was released resulting in a resource gap of P3 million.

Mr Makgalemele said grant agreements were never signed on time due to delays in addressing comments.

He explained that grant agreements for mission hospitals ran for five years, and that upon submission of the documents vetting was done through the Attorney General, sometimes leading to some delays.

Mr Rantuana had asked if the minister was aware that the ministry still released funds for the last quarter of the year to Bamalete Lutheran Hospital late and as such the hospital’s employees were always paid late at the beginning of each year.

He had also asked why the signing of the grant agreement was never done on time.

In response to another question from MP for Boteti East, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe, the assistant minister said Mokubilo and Mmea villages had been allocated one ambulance each with registration numbers BX15 2720 and BX16 3894 respectively which are both currently running.

He also told Parliament on Tuesday that Letlhakane had been allocated six ambulances with one covering Letlhakane and Tawana clinics and the rest covering the hospital.

He said BX12 9331 was for the two clinics while BX 13 9493, BX 16 3892, BX 14 0807 and BX09 5954 covered the hospital.

He added that ambulance with registration numbers BX 14 0807 was not running as it needed replacement for the bearing, lens and rewiring but CTO was expected to attend to it on March 19, 2018.

He also noted that ambulance with registration BX09 5954 was also not running and was currently at Sekgoma Memorial Hospital awaiting CTO to tow it to Peugeot.

He noted that Mosu was allocated one non-ambulance vehicle with registration number BX15 20809 which was currently not running as it needed a new engine.

He explained that the quotation for the new engine had been sourced and the engine would be replaced in the next financial year, while Mosu continued to be serviced by an ambulance from Mokubilo.

Further, he said that Mmatshumo was also allocated a non-ambulance with registration number BX 12 9286 which was currently running and assisting Khwee village whose vehicle was to be boarded. Currently, he said, Mmatshumo was being serviced by an ambulance from Mokubilo.

He highlighted that Khwee was allocated an ambulance with registration number BX 10 7397 but the vehicle had been taken for boarding.

“Khwee is currently being assisted by a non-ambulance vehicle from Mmatshumo while Makgaba is being serviced as a mobile stop by Mokubilo Health Post.”

Member of Parliament for Boteti East, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe had wanted the minister to state the number of ambulances assigned to Mokubilo, Mmea, Letlhakane, Mosu, Mmatshumo, Khwee and Makgaba villages and also to state which ambulances were running and not running to date and the reasons as well as their registration numbers. ENDS