29 Aug 2013

Youth have been encouraged to use government hospitals, following a concern that majority of them were not accessing the available health facilities due to unfriendly environment.

The youth empowerment coordinating committee chairperson, Mr Lucas Nku said they had realised that less numbers of youths visited hospitals near their surroundings. He said they now wanted to grab the attention of youths by providing recreational facilities to use for entertainment while waiting on queues at the hospitals. Mr Nku mentioned this during the official handing over of recreational equipment by Ministry of Health to Scottish Livingstone Hospital (SLH) Youth Friendly Clinic recently.

He said their committee had been existing for six months hence several activities such as ball tournaments had been successful, adding that they started donating LCD screen and DVD players during the 2010/2011 financial year.

“We started donations in Letlhakane and Maun, we still have hospitals to donate to such as Tsabong, Ghanzi, Gweta, Selebi Phikwe Thamaga and Masunga. We encourage youth in the village to elect committees so that we may assist them with recreational equipments,” Nku said.

When giving overview about the clinic, SLH matron, Ms Portia Seduledi said the global demographics showed that more than 30 per cent of the world population youth dido not utilise existing health facilities for various reasons ranging from long queues to unfriendly attitudes. She said the mandate of the clinic was to provide age appropriate information and education on Sexual Reproductive Health issues to the youth, saying they are catering for youth aged 10-29 years old.

“The SLH Youth Friendly Clinic commenced its operation in 2011.Our services include family planning, counselling, screening for Sexually Transmitted Diseases and others,” said Ms Seduledi. Furthermore she emphasised that the clinic started with a baseline monthly statistics of 65 to 500-700 clients per month, which shows a massive growth of youth using the facility.

When giving vote of thanks Hospital Advisory Committee Chairperson Mr Ally Kokorwe appreciated the Health ministry urging them to continue donating to other youths saying it is a foundation to achieve Vision 2016 pillars.

He also commended Kgari Sechele Senior Secondary youths for painting the clinic. He noted that the recreational equipment such as those donated can make patients recover from their sicknesses..

The Ministry of Health Youth Department donated chess board and pieces, darts board and pieces, monopoly, scrabble, table tennis and pool table bought with a total amount of about P40 000. Ends