23 May 2018

An official from the district commissioner’s office in Tlokweng Sub-district, Ms Ketshepile Nthaolang says Tlokweng clinics continue to experience shortage of drugs.

Ms Nthaolang told the sub-council session on May 21 that the supply of drugs at the clinics was currently 72 per cent, which was below the set national target of 97 per cent.

She explained that the challenge was due to failure by the Central Medical Stores (CMS) to adhere to set turn-around times for procurement while some medications had also been out of stock for some time, something she said compromised quality care.

On other issues, Ms Nthaolang said the uptake of routine HIV testing surpassed the target and that it was a remarkable development compared to the previous experiences where low numbers were recorded.

“This was achieved because some clients came prepared to test and know their status,” she stated. As such, she said efforts to offer free testing and enroll those who had tested positive in the treat all programme would finally yield results.

She also noted that they had not recorded any cases of mother-to-child transmission of the virus under the PMTCT programme.

However, she decried the delay in obtaining infants results from the laboratory, saying it delayed early diagnosis and decision-making.

Under anti-retroviral treatment, she said they had initiated 137 new clients out of which nine deaths were recorded.

Ms Nthaolang further told the sub-council meeting that the Home Based Care programme was ongoing, and had registered eight new clients to take the total to 59.

She also expressed concern about shortage of volunteers under the Home Based Care programme as well as the number of sexually transmitted infections that continued to rise despite ongoing campaigns and teachings.

“There is need for strengthened stakeholder collaboration to continue raising awareness and encourage consistent proper condom use,” she said.

On other health related issues, Ms Nthaolang told the meeting that the health department continued to screen travellers entering the country from other countries through the Tlokweng border for any suspected contagious diseases.

She further said screening at the borders also continued to check for compliance with set standards and requirements in order to prevent importation of goods that do not comply with the legal instruments of Botswana.

Through such inspection, she said they discovered that 16 out of the 86 chemical consignments as well as 47 out of 200 pharmaceuticals failed to comply with all the necessary requirements and were seized.

“Some were released upon provision of the necessary documents while others were sent back to the countries of origin,” she stated.

On the recent listeriosis outbreak in South Africa, she stated that physical inspection of food consignments intensified after the Ministry of Health and Wellness issued a mandatory recall of ready to eat meat products and their importation. ENDS