27 Jun 2019

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Alfred Madigele, has commended the A.S Dada Foundation for donating a clinic to Kumakwane.

Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony of the over P5 million clinic on June 25, the minister said the current health post could no longer accommodate the over 5 000 population.

The health facility, he said, consisted of only two consultation rooms including a caravan, mini dispensary, one room for dressings and a separate one-roomed child welfare clinic.

Dr Madigele also said there was notable congestion at the health post, which also compromised access to quality health services.

With the health post seeing an average of 14 000 outpatients as well as three to five emergency deliveries per annum, Dr Madigele said there was need for a bigger health facility.

As such, he said, his ministry had prioritised upgrading of the health post to a clinic during the National Development Plan 11, which unfortunately, had not taken off due to budgetary ceiling constraints.

He, therefore, said government was happy that and the foundation  founder, Mr Satar Dada, donated the clinic. In his remarks, Mr Dada emphasised that his foundation recognised the plight of the people, which could not be met by government due to budgetary constraints.

He said it was during times like these when the partnership between government and private sector was put into action.

Mr Dada indicated that it was during consultations with the minister of health that an urgent need for a clinic in Kumakwane was identified and it was then agreed that the foundation would build a 20-roomed clinic, which included a maternity wing and a general outpatient wing.

He also stated that this was the fourth clinic his foundation had provided to the government.  Other clinics are in Kanye, Molepolole and Gaborone.

He stressed that they were always hopeful that they could do more as part of their corporate social responsibility.

Mr Dada was hopeful that once completed, the clinic, which sits in a populated and busy area, will be utilised to the maximum and the council would keep it clean and maintain high standards.

He, however, expressed concern about medication and unavailability of drugs in health facilities, adding that some products were not available in Botswana, but were readily available in neighbouring South Africa, which he said was a loss to local suppliers if not addressed.

The contractor, Mr Charles Qiu of Whitacon said the project was at slab level, with construction having started in February and they were hoping to complete it in December.

Mr Qiu said the project brought personal pride and fulfillment derived from creating employment opportunities for Batswana. ENDS