04 Jul 2018

Physical fitness is a way of life that opens doors to fitness of the entire body, says deputy permanent secretary – Governance in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Colonel Duke Masilo. 

Speaking during a Boiteko Trust donation of gym equipment to Sekgoma Memorial Hospital recently, Col Masilo said an unfit body could yield a slow mind and thereby affect productivity. 

Though advocating for physical fitness, he warned SMH staff against overworking oneself, warning that everyone had their own level of fitness. 

He said that by training regularly, health workers would help cut down on the health bill, which he said was a great concern to government.  

He said some Batswana ended up being referred for treatment outside the country for some lifestyle diseases, which could have been avoided. 

Col Masilo said training would help health workers keep lifestyle diseases at bay. 

He praised Boiteko Trust for aiding health workers away from non-communicable diseases. 

The deputy permanent secretary said not only did physical training help with controlling lifestyle diseases, it also shaped one’s body. 

The hospital superintendent, Dr Tshepo Machacha said the donation would help the caregivers to also take care of their physical fitness needs, adding that most of the time, caregivers were not cared for. 

Dr Machacha, who expressed his passion for health and wellness in the workplace, said people who shunned physical training stood a good chance of falling prey to non-communicable diseases. 

For her part, Boiteko Trust deputy chairperson, Ms Gothatamang Nthobatsang said the trust donated the equipment so that in the process of caregiving, caregivers also received some care by way of exercising to not only be in good shape, but in the right frame of mind. She said the compassion shown was resultant of the trust’s founder, the late Mr Patrick Van Rensburg’s, stance and believe system. 

Ms Nthobatsang described Mr Van Rensburg as a ‘loving and magnanimous’ man who loved seeing people progress. 

Hospital manager, Ms Mmasehako Motshodi-Motsumi was ecstatic at the receipt of the gym equipment, saying that lack of such had seen some of the aerobics fitness team pull out. She said the equipment would augment their efforts towards having a physically fit workforce. ENDS