08 Sep 2020

In line with its commitment to assist  in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Debswana Jwaneng mine  on Monday donated personal protective clothing to Jwaneng town council as well as Mabutsane and Letlhakeng sub-districts.

Speaking at the donation ceremony, Jwaneng mine hospital superintendent, Dr Biki Maphane said it would have been amiss for the mine hospital to be well equipped and prepared for the pandemic, while its neighbouring clinics were wallowing in need.

He said the donation was a result of the good established relations between the mine hospital and the neighbouring District Health Management Teams (DHMTs), which served a combined 80 000 population through 11 clinics.

“So this is just a modest effort by the mine in assisting friends in need. One of our pillars as Debswana is pulling together. So we found the need to equip our neighbouring DHMTs so that we could pull together in the fight against COVID 19,” he said.

Dr Maphane said that because COVID-19 was easily transmitted, it was therefore vital that frontline workers we well protected.

Jwaneng mayor, Ms Olga Ditsie said COVID-19 did not only affect a person physically, but mentally as well.

“The availability of protective clothing will help bring confidence and dispel fear among our frontline workers because if one works with a fear of being infected, it can have a mental challenge on them and affect service delivery,” she said.

Ms Ditsie also appreciated Debswana Jwaneng mine for its long-standing assistance to the area, a relationship she said was yearned for by other districts.

She said the protective clothing came at the right time as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise rapidly in Jwaneng.

She said that the donation also came at a time when a decision had been taken that districts should look into isolating their patients instead of sending them to Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital in Gaborone.

Speaking on behalf of the three recipient districts, Letlhakeng deputy district commissioner, Ms Ikgopoleng Lekoape said that COVID-19 could only be defeated if people acted responsibly and worked together.

She said Botswana needed to be more careful than other countries as its population was much smaller.

Ms Lekoape also raised concern that COVID-19 cases in Botswana spiked during the period when alcohol was on sale.

She urged Batswana to be more careful and drink responsibly at their homes as the law required.

The donation, worth P300 000 included a variety of personal protective clothing as well as sanitisers. ENDS