23 Feb 2020

Princess Marina Hospital (PMH) is embarking on a project to expand some cubicles to decongest the hospital’s accident and emergency (A&E) department.

When officially opening the hospital’s expanded A&E ward on Thursday the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Lemogang Kwape, said the hospital grappled with overcrowding challenges and therefore opening of the expanded ward came at an opportune time.

Dr Kwape said the completion of the project resulted with the increase of beds from 18 to 38, noting that the completed project had cubicles designated for observation, resuscitation, isolation and general ward.

He explained that the renovation of the ward took eight months at a cost of around P500 000.

The A&E ward was furnished with hospital beds, transport trolleys, ECG machines, mobile ventilator, portable mobile monitors, wheel chairs and suction machines among other necessary equipment for emergency service.

All patients who would have already been seen by A&E doctors and awaiting services such as blood transfusion and hydration would be seen in the new area thus creating space for other patients at A&E.

He further said the high patient volumes outweighed the A&E staffing norms, saying in June 2019 the ministry made an effort to tackle overcrowding and under-staffing by employing 90 nurses and 25 doctors to alleviate the shortage at PMH. 

He said, despite this effort, the problem of overcrowding and long waiting times still persisted.

“In an effort to tackle this problem, my ministry is working around the clock to provide the facilities that are needed to operate efficiently” said Dr Kwape.

Dr Kwape also urged the PMH staff to do their best with the limited resources that they have to tackle the congestion.

For his part the hospital superintendent Dr Tshepho Machacha said some patients take longer time before they could be seen by the doctors at A&E because the influx of patients from local clinics and nearby hospitals contributed to the congestion since there was no primary nor district hospital in Gaborone.

He urged the public to also use the local clinics where they could be treated for minor injuries and ailments as this will improve waiting times for the services at PMH A&E. Ends