22 Aug 2013

Chairperson of the Southern District Council, Mr Leach Tlhomelang, on Agust 21 applauded the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Sydney, Australia for the donation of medical equipment to the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Kanye.

“I am thrilled to witness this kind of gesture here today,” he said. “It is not every day that we receive this amount of equipment which we are very certain has cost a lot of money.” The donation included 70 beds, 70 mattresses, physiotherapy equipment, asthma equipment and children’s clothes.  

Mr Tlhomelang said the equipment would transform the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital into an ultra-modern facility and put it at par with privately owned hospitals in terms of provision of quality services. Managers at the hospital were encouraged to take care of the equipment and to use it appropriately and where necessary.

They were also encouraged to share with other hospitals to ensure that it benefitted as many Batswana as possible. Furthermore, Mr Tlhomelang commended the hospital management and staff for their initiative to source donations from the church in Australia. As a result, he added, the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital would soon become the envy of many across the nation.

The hospital’s chief executive officer, Dr Bangwato Sikwa, explained that she led a delegation to Sydney in May this year to ask for donations, particularly in the wake of the current economic climate. Dr Sikwa said although she did not measure the equipment in monetary value, she vowed to give the hospital a facelift in future.

For his part, Councillor Phenyo Thekeleza of Ntsweng East, whose ward includes the SDA Hospital, described the donation as a step in the right direction. “I have only seen these beds at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, and nowhere else,” he enthused.

He said he was happy for the physiotherapy equipment because it had been inadequate. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports hinted at the upgrading of the SDA nursing college in Kanye into a full-fledged Seventh Day Adventist  university. Ends