24 Mar 2019

Nowadays Batswana are so innovative that they manufacture tools, machines and even come up with home made ideas.

Gone are the days when Batswana used to expect government to do everything for them to develop the country.

One of such innovative minds is the managing director of Zambezi Motors Mr Ishmael Nshakashogwe who says they started off with road show vehicles, but of late they have ventured into assembling mobile clinics and ambulances.

This they did after realising that it was not possible to have permanent clinics everywhere, especially in sparsely populated areas, camps and remote areas, hence the need to make health accessible to as many people as possible.

He said at some stage they made a mobile office for the Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund, Ministry of Transport and Communications Mobile Traffic Training School and the Botswana Police Booze Buses.

“As a company we have always seen ourselves as regional entrepreneurs, thus finding ourselves working with not only Botswana, but the region and the continent at large,” said the managing director.

He said they had put up a mobile clinic under USAID sponsorship designed to cater for various clinical procedures such as ear test, safe male circumcision, eye tests, blood pressure checks, TB and HIV testing.

The mobile clinic destined for Tanzania is ready for use with a message in Kiswahili, “Tunakuthamini, Njeo Ujue Afya Yako,” which translate to, “We are inviting you to know your health status.”

There are also two well-equipped ambulances that will be going to Malawi to assist during emergencies.

“We saw it fitting to network with the rest of the world because health issues are universal,” he said.

Mr Nshakashogwe would not commit himself to issues of costs because it depended on the needs of the client, location and the health needs of the people in question.

The mobile clinics have solar panels; they can also be connected to the main electrical supply or be operated on generators and they have huge petrol reserve tanks that can cover long distances.

He said coming up with the mobile clinics would do away with the situation where such vehicles used to come from outside the country, a situation which he said tended to disempower Batswana in terms of job opportunities and sustainable economic development.

Mr Nshakashogwe noted that government was always taking the lead in terms creating a conducive environment for investment and challenged the private sector to rise up to the occasion and invest in the country instead of waiting for foreign companies to take the lead. ENDS