25 Oct 2020

Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness Mr Setlhomo Lelatisitswe has applauded Kgatleng District Health Management Team (DHMT) for their selflessness despite daily challenges they are faced with.

Speaking at a courtesy visit to Deborah Retief Memorial Hospital (DRMH) on October 22, Mr Lelatisitswe said health care personnel laid their lives on the line to ensure that the public was in good health, therefore must be commended for their hard work.

“The ministry has heard about the many challenges that this hospital is faced with, hence my visit. I want to thank the DHMT for their hard work and to continue prioritising patients,” he said.

He acknowledged the hospital superintendent, Dr Boago Didimalang for alerting him about the challenges that the district faced, adding that it was important not to leave anything out so that every problem could be dealt with.

He said DRMH maintenance was included in the National Development Plan but due to budgetary constraints, the actual construction has been delayed.

He urged the hospital front liners to soldier on and ensure use of available equipment until developments could be brought to the hospital.

For his part, Kgatleng East MP, who is also Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Mr Mabuse Pule expressed gratitude towards the assistant Minister’s courtesy visit.

He also commended the DHMT for ensuring good service delivery despite challenges such as shortage of transport amongst others. 

Mr Pule urged the assistant minister to do something in order to bring changes not only to the Kgatleng health care facilities but also to the livelihood of health care providers.

When giving an overview of Kgatleng DHMT, Dr Didimalang said there were 146 nurses against 156 for the hospital establishment. 

There are 133 nurses in Kgatleng district clinics against 171 establishments and 57 of these in Mochudi clinics.

Dr Didimalang said 16 nurses in the district had been recommended for light duty due to ill health, also noting that currently, nurses were resigning at a high rate opting for private hospitals.  

He further noted that in the hospital there were three specialists being a physician, family physician and public health specialist.

He said currently there are 26 medical officers in the district.

Dr Didimalang said the DHMT continues to experience acute shortage of staff across all cadres which results in officers being overstretched leading to fatigue,

He also said most of the cadres have not been given uniform and protective clothing due to insufficient funds.

Dr Didimalang decried about the hospital mortuary, saying the facility has not been functional for over 7 years.

“Several maintenance companies have been engaged without much success. New mortuary fridges are needed,” he said, adding that most of the structures in the district are in a state of disrepair and that this applies to both the health facilities and staff houses.

However, Dr Didimalang said one of the projects that they are currently embarking on is the Makgophana health post currently being upgraded under the Economic Stimulus Package to a fully-fledged 24hr Out Patient facility, with 10 staff houses.

He said the project was expected to be completed by December 2019, however, it had stalled owing to lack of electrical drawings from headquarters.

The hospital superintendent stated that Kgatleng DHMT was a model of excellence when it came to linkages of services such that it attracted attention of residents and international community who came for benchmarking exercises.

“The district has forged a good working relationship with partners for a common purpose. 

These include BUMMHI, ACHAP, UPENN, BAYLOR, TEBELOPELE which assist with HIV & TB programme implementation,” he said.

According to Emergency Medical Services  (EMS),  Mr Demitrius Musingwini said they had recorded 676 cases relating to respiratory complications compared to 233 in 2019. 

He noted that COVID-19 pandemic had contributed to escalation of these numbers. 

He said due to movement restrictions, EMS had recorded 261 cases of casualties compared to 588 cases last year.

Mr Musingwini decried shortage of staff and fleet, stating that they were in need of paramedics and a doctor.

He also said EMS base was in need of an ambulance bay, extrication equipment and a back-up generator.

After the tour of Deborah Retief Memorial Hospital, the assistant minister proceeded to the villages of Malolwane, Ramonaka, Mmathubudukwane and Sikwane where he also toured clinics and was updated on challenges that the health facilities were faced with. 

Mr Lelatisitswe also visited Malolwane kgotla, where Kgosi Michael Balebetse briefed him that since there was no fence between the river villages and South African border, some members of the public secretly jumped to the other side of the river.

He promised the assistant minister that they would alert the DHMT about the law-breakers so that they get tested for COVID-19. ends