07 May 2019

Government is concerned and greatly saddened by reports of physical and verbal abuse meted out on health workers, Vice President Mr Slumber Tsogwane has said.

  Giving a keynote address at the Botswana Nurses Union (BNU) annual general conference in Palapye on May 7, Mr Tsogwane said if not attended to, violence against nurses and other workers could adversely affect the delivery of services.

 “Government therefore endeavors to ensure that workers’ safety in the workplace and rights are protected,” he said adding that the public should know that their right to health also required their responsibility to ensure protection of workers.

Vice President Tsogwane said nurses played a pivotal role in Botswana’s progress and development noting that wealth creation was all about maintaining a healthy nation for improved productivity.

He said the provision of primary health care remained critical and therefore shortage of nurses and midwives was of great concern, as it had resulted in high nurse-patient ratio that “burns out nurses resulting in poor service delivery”.

Government, he said, would continue to review recruitment strategies and policies to ensure employment creation in critical areas of need by continuing to rationalise vacant positions in the public service.

 In addition, Mr Tsogwane said through continuous dialogue with BNU and the Ministry of Health and Wellness; solutions to persistent challenges in the health system would be found.

He explained that the ministry, in collaboration with BNU, was implementing ‘Nursing Now’ initiative which sought to empower nurses to take their place of tackling 21st century health challenges, with the intention of raising the nursing status and profile.

Mr Tsogwane said government had pledged commitment to continue dialogue with BNU and other unions.

“We view trade unions and employees as partners in raising Botswana’s competitive and productivity levels necessary to create wealth for Botswana,” he said.

The conference, scheduled to end May 9, is held under the theme ‘Work place violence; a challenge to nurses safety and health in service delivery.’ENDS