05 Jul 2018

Some councillors from Okavango Sub district have demanded an apology from the Minister of Health and Wellness after they were informed that maintenance of Gumare Primary Hospital was not included in the 2018/19 financial year due to budgetary constraints.

The hospital is dilapidated and is included in NDP 11.

Councillors argued that for the past three years, residents were informed during kgotla meetings that the facility would be renovated since they had long complained of its bad state.

They expressed disappointment and insisted that the relevant minister should come to Gumare and apologise to the residents who were patiently waiting for the facelift of the health facility.

However, National AIDS Coordinating Agency coordinator, Mr Richard Matlhare said the ministry was scoping the extent of maintenance works to be done at the hospital.

He said an expression of interest was being floated for locally registered contractors to assist in executing maintenance works.

Despite the explanation, councillors said they were ‘ired of empty promise’ and insisted on an apology.

They said the facility had been neglected for a long time citing challenges of shortage of midwives, nurses, drugs and unpaid overtime for drivers.

Cllr Keobinetse Matenanga of Gumare/Tubu South expressed disappointment saying they were promised maintenance this financial year.  He concurred with fellow councillors that the minister should come and address a kgotla meeting and explain to residents.

Cllr Mpoke Karapo of Tubu North said drivers were not happy because they were not paid overtime while the sub district chairperson, Mr Mbahahauka Kambimba called on the ministry to train ambulance drivers on defensive driving.

When responding to the issue of shortage of staff, Mr Matlhare said the ministry was aware of the shortage of nurses in Okavango District Health Management Team (DHMT) particularly midwives.

Okavango DHMT currently has 173 nurses with a shortfall of 13 and the number of nurses transferred from the district during the 2017 mass transfers was 29 while the number of nurses transferred to the district during the same period was 24.

Mr Matlhare further stated that the number of new appointments for the district in 2017 was nine and 24 in 2018 tolling 33 out of which two were midwives.

“Mostly those who did not report when transferred were midwives and this was due to several factors ranging from social to health reasons,” he added.

He said the ministry was working on rectifying the shortfall of midwives through the cohort that had just completed training and also through appointment from the applications received. ENDS