02 Dec 2019

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Lemogang Kwape says the ministry is challenged with a shortage of midwives countrywide with Hukuntsi Primary Hospital and Kang 24 hour clinic as no exceptions. He said currently there were 12 midwives at Hukuntsi Primary Hospital and six at Kang 24 hour clinic.

“The ministry has also employed and sent five midwives in October 2019 for the DHMT, but only two have reported while the remaining three have not,” he said. Minister Kwape said the ministry had embarked on an exercise of recruiting midwives outside the system, those in private institutions and retired midwives since 2017 in an effort to address the situation.

He said transfers and rationalisation of midwives across the country was also done to curb the situation. He briefed Parliament of the ministry’s plans to advertise the positions, indicating the particular areas in need of midwives, adding that Kgalagadi North was one of the priority areas. Dr Kwape said it was envisaged that the ophthalmic nurse would be deployed to Kgalagadi North in 2020, and that the process of transfer has already been initiated as it was a nationwide transfer process of specialised nurses. He said the X-ray machine at Hukuntsi Primary Hospital had been written off as it was now obsolete while it had been hard to source for replacement parts.

“The ministry is in the process of procuring a new X-ray machine through an open domestic tender which is expected to have been delivered at the facility by the second quarter of the coming financial year, 2020/2021,” he said.

In the interim, he said the ministry had procured a new mobile X-ray machine for Hukuntsi Primary Hospital and was expected to arrive in the country in December 2019. Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi North, Ms Talitha Monnakgotla had asked the minister on the shortage of midwives in Kgalagadi North constituency where Hukuntsi Primary Hospital currently operated with 10 midwives and Kang Clinic, which is a 24-hour clinic, with six midwives.She also asked the minister when the constituency would be provided with an ophthalmic nurse, and when the X-ray machine at Hukuntsi Primary Hospital would be repaired.ENDS