26 Nov 2018

Stress in the workplace can have a negative impact on productivity.

The observation was made by Palapye District Health Management Team (DHMT) acting head, Dr Culistus Gobotswang during a wellness day organised by the team recently.

Dr Gobotswang said public service employees were expected to deliver products and services without compromise.

He said there was a risk of the workplace becoming the source of stress, discontent and burnout for workers, hence it was important for service providers to find ways of maintaining high levels of productivity and still be able to deal effectively with challenges facing them.

Dr Gobotswang said government had established a comprehensive wellness programme for health workers to address the challenges they faced.

“I hope these measures go a long way in addressing these concerns and enhance productivity,” he said.

 He said that healthcare facilities had become hot pots simmering with conflicts and heated verbal exchange leaving healthcare professionals emotionally battered.

Furthermore, he said the workers reported witnessing disruptive behaviour, which included verbal abuse.

Dr Gobotswang said between eight and 38 per cent of health workers globally were at the risk of violence and had suffered physical violence at some point.

Violence against health workers, he said was unacceptable because it did not only have a negative impact on their psychological and physical well-being, but also affected their job motivation and as a result, compromised the quality of care and put health care provision at risk.

He pointed out that there was a system of providing separate service points for staff and members of the public to ensure that staff accessed help and returned to their duty stations without disrupting services to the public.

Dr Gobotswang applauded stakeholders for their contribution in ensuring stability in the lives of staff members.

He also thanked the hospital administration’s recognition and support for the initiative, which he said should serve as an example to other facilities and support government institutions.

“The Ministry, through the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care continues to sponsor the training of trainers and healthcare workers on issues of wellness. 

As a ministry we value safety of health workers in the workplace and we will continue to provide them with all the necessary skills and knowledge to prevent and control hazards that could be brought by lack of empowerment,” he said.

He urged staff members to open up to the social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists so that they could help them. ENDS