18 Sep 2018

Mahalapye District Hospital superintendent, Dr Kunal Bose has appealed to police officers to strike a balance between their right to get medical treatment and their responsibility of taking care of their health.

Officiating at the Botswana Police Service North Central Division health expo in Mahalapye recently, Dr Bose said health as defined by the World Health Organisation was not just the absence of illness, but the physical, mental, psychological and spiritual wellbeing of an individual. 

He also said maintaining health was not the sole responsibility of the medical sector, and that it was important to be physically and mentally fit.

“You attend to very traumatic incidents and accidents therefore there is need for you to undergo post traumatic counselling,” advised Dr Bose.

Furthermore, he said there was need for police officers to undergo anger management and emotional intelligent training because they handled firearms and dealt with people.

Dr Bose raised concern that people were unnecessary burdening the health sector because of irresponsible behaviour by some individuals. 

He cited road traffic accidents due to drunken or negligent driving, assaults resulting in bodily harm and sexual assaults as some such behaviour.

He, however, applauded the police for their efforts in curbing such incidents and working hand in hand with the health sector. 

He said their efforts could only be effective if individuals took responsibility for their own health as much as they felt they had the right to medication. 

He advised officers to exercise regularly and to test for non-communicable diseases. Equally important, he said, was the need to have counselling facilities. 

He noted that suicide cases caused by depression were on the rise.

“There is a need for us to be spiritually guided. Therefore, I advocate for some sort of spiritual guidance- fellowship or pastoral services at the work places,” said Dr Bose.

For his part, Senior Superintendent Mokolobetsi Marata said the day was to encourage employees to make positive behavioural change through health education and to sensitise employees on the benefits of physical fitness.

Activities of the day included blood donation and police officers helped in saving lives through donating blood.

There was also screening for diseases such as cervical cancer and HIV/AIDS testing. ENDS