15 Sep 2019

Government has requested P350 million from the World Bank for the upgrading of Tutume and North East District water supply, Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services Mr Kefentse Mzwinila has said.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting addressed by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi in Tutume on September 13, Mr Mzwinila said the project tender closed on September 12.

He expressed hope that construction of the pipeline as well as upgrading of Ntimbale Dam water treatment plant would commence in February next year.

The minister noted that there had been an outcry about stagnation in plot allocation in the area, revealing that 39.67 hectors had been acquired, which would be divided into 401 residential plots, 10 multi residential, eight commercials and another eight for civil and community services.

On Mr Bonno Mpatane’s request that government should consider returning water management services in rural areas to the Department of Water Affairs while Water Utilities Corporation managed urban centres, Minister Mzwinila said advice would be sought from experts on the issue.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Alfred Madigela revealed that the ministry was in the process of acquiring gym equipment to be distributed to district health management teams across the country.

He was responding to a proposal made by Kgosi Tapson Madikwe of Tutume that Batswana be encouraged to exercise in order to beat lifestyle related diseases.

Even though there were privately owned facilities in the village, he said their charges were not affordable. He thus requested government to consider providing such facilities at health institutions for the benefit of those who could not afford private services.

Dr Madigela said the ministry had partnered with the private sector to provide such services, further assuring residents that Tutume being the district headquarters, it was definitely going to be among the beneficiaries.

The minister decried the fact that besides HIV/AIDS, non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer were causing a lot of deaths.

With such services being offered at district level, it would help in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, he said.

Dr Madigele cautioned people against alcohol abuse, noting that it was a major factor in the spread of non-communicable diseases resulting in the loss of lives.

Regarding plans to construct a 72-bed hospital on the 16-hectors plot the ministry had been allocated in the village, the minister said by the end of September, a report on the design would be ready.

He said the project was expected to go to tender by the end of the year with the hope that work would commence next February.

On other issues, the minister explained that challenges experienced in the supply of medication was due to late ordering and delivery to Central Medical Stores (CMS). He said the ministry had since made micro procurement allocations to DHMTs to enable them to order medication without going through CMS.

So far Tutume DHMT had used P1.5 million for the procurement of such drugs, he said.

Regarding a complaint that patients were required to go in search of prescribed drugs without the assistance of health personnel, he promised to investigate and take action. ENDS