24 Mar 2019

Letlhakane Primary Hospital does not have staff lounge and on-call rooms as the structure was built long ago and the only provision made was for duty rooms used for reporting and health breaks.

When answering a parliamentary question, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Alfred Madigele said officers on call were collected from their homes as and when needed.

He explained that staff lounges were used by staff during health breaks while on-call rooms were used to accommodate staff members who were on-call to ensure their timely and safe response to calls.

“Currently, the ministry does not have plans to build staff lounge and on-call rooms for the current hospital.

However, these will be provided for in the proposed hospital,” he said. Further, Dr Madigele said the hospital had been prioritised in NDP 11.

However, he said it could not be accommodated in the budget, owing to ceiling constraints, adding that it had also not been accommodated in the 2019/2020 financial year for the same reasons.

MP for Boteti East, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe had asked Dr Madigele if he was aware that Letlhakane Primary Hospital ‘does not have staff lounge and on-call rooms’ and to state the importance of the two units in a hospital setting.

Mr Lelatisitswe also wanted to know if the ministry was considering building such, if they were included in the planned hospital and when it would be delivered. Ends