04 Jun 2018

Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane has commended Sathya Sai Baba Free Clinic management for offering free medical consulting and medication to 90 Batswana every Sunday.

Speaking at the 4th Sathya Sai Student Vision Support Programme, Mr Tsogwane said provision of free spectacles to students contributed not only to improvement of children’s eye sight, ‘but also contributes to their education, because they can see properly when they study.’

Since its inception in 2006, he said the clinic had touched lives of multitudes of people in the country by offering free services, without soliciting any funds, ‘which is highly appreciated by government.’

“The services provided by the Sathya Sai Central Trust play a significant role in many areas, such as poverty eradication which is one of the government flagship programmes,” he said.

The trust’s support to various NGOs, including orphanages around Gaborone and SOS in Tlokweng, the vice president said, was also commendable.

This spirit of compassion, generosity and volunteerism, as displayed by Sathya Sai Baba Free Clinic, Mr Tsogwane said was a clear demonstration of the sound partnership between government and Non-Governmental Organisations in their contribution to the country’s socio economic development.

“Government alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of providing services to its citizens, because of limited financial resources,” he said.

In this respect, he said it was gratifying that there were NGOs, such as the Sathya Sai Central Trust that were committed to be partners in development with government.

Giving keynote address, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Alfred Madigele, said childhood blindness was a major public health concern worldwide.

In Botswana, Dr Madigele said childhood blindness survey that was conducted in 2009, found the prevalence of blindness to be 0.5 per cent, among children aged 0-15 years, and the leading cause being uncorrected refractive error followed by congenital cataract.

For this reason, he called for action by all to mobilise resources to strengthen eye care services to reduce preventable and treatable blindness, adding that “government supports and encourages existence of service organisations, such as Sathya Sai Baba Free Clinic, as it is not possible for government alone to fulfill public needs.”

“When visual disability occurs in childhood, it challenges children’s development, which can negatively affect their future.

Children who are blind have a lifetime of visual impairment ahead of them, with all the associated emotional, social and economic costs to the child, the family and the society,” he added.

The minister however expressed delight for the Sathya Sai Central Trust’s noble and humanitarian gesture of restoring sight to the multitudes of children who deserved the service.

He also noted that research had shown that visual impairment and blindness were the leading and largely preventable causes of disability worldwide.

In 2009, according to World Health Organisation estimates, there were 1.26 million children worldwide who were blind and 0.42 million of them are found in sub-Saharan Africa.

If effective interventions are not put in place, Dr Madigele said the number was likely to increase.

Sathya Sai Central Trust chairperson, Dr Sunil Kadiyala, said the goal of Sathya Sai Student Vision Support Programme was to provide support to children with various sight problems who had difficulty in pursuing their studies in order to achieve their goals.

During the course of the camp, Dr Kadiyala said more than 1 200 students would be screened for various eye conditions and the necessary aid would be provided.

“Apart from provision of eye care services, the Sathya Sai Baba Free Clinic also provides medical, dental care, blood test, ultrasound scanning and has now introduced physiotherapy services to those who need it every Sunday.

Patients are also provided with breakfast during that time,” he added.

“This mammoth task is only possible because of the selfless voluntary service of 15 medical doctors, four dentists, five opticians, five pharmacists, three physiotherapists, Diagnofirm technicians and numerous non-medical volunteers,” he added. ENDS