02 Aug 2018

Government is said to have spent over P520 million in refurbishing the old Mahalapye primary hospital.

Addressing a kgotla meeting at Bokaa ward in Mahalapye on August 1, Mahalapye West Member of Parliament, Mr Joseph Molefe said maintenance works at the facility were completed in May.

Mr Molefe said the project package included vehicles and personnel, adding that he was hopeful that the re-opening of the hospital will improve provision of health services in the village.

Despite the developments, some residents were still concerned about shortage of drugs and personnel at health facilities.

One resident, Ms Mable Resheng stated that the Airstrip Clinic was understaffed and continually experienced shortage of drugs.

Ms Resheng said even though the facility operated 24 hours, shortage of nurses and doctors led to poor service delivery as patients waited for long to be assisted.

She added that the few nurses at the clinic were forced to perform multiple duties .

Ms Margaret Samuel was equally concerned about the situation at Airstrip Clinic, adding the issue was a long standing concern as transferred nurses were never replaced.

Responding to the residents’ concerns, Mr Molefe said his office was aware of the situation at Airstrip Clinic, adding that all the concerns relating to health facilities, among them shortage of doctors, drugs, nurses and specialised personnel like gynaecologists had been raised with the relevant ministry.

“I have raised among others delayed bookings with specialist doctors, congested emergency service wing at Mahalapye District Hospital, breakdown of equipment like x-ray machines and shortage of medication especially for chronic illnesses,” he added.

Mr Molefe also said it was unfortunate that health facilities were faced with shortage of nurses and therefore unable to perform accordingly.

On other issues, he informed the residents that the project of expanding the power grid in Mahalapye was completed.

He said it was a welcome development as in the past, some residents were not able to connect electricity due to high prices, some of which were over P100 000.

He said Tewane village was also connected to the electricity grid.

On cluster fencing, Mr Molefe said some farmers were not able to utilise the scheme as the policy required the clustered fields to have a minimum of 150 hectares.

He said the policy needed to be reviewed to cater for clustered farmers even if the area of their ploughing land was under 150 hectares.

Mr Molefe also informed the residents that he had proposed for Mahalapye to be converted into a special economic zone so that it will be easier to provide land for potential investors.

He said in a planning location that Mahalapye was currently, the process of changing land use was rigid and therefore delayed the development process as some investors were not eager to wait for long, while others were interested in occupying developed areas.

Meanwhile, Mr Molefe also revealed that the Mahalapye Sub-district had been awarded P4 million to finance pending poverty eradication projects during the current financial year. ENDS