24 Sep 2013

Boot camp beneficiaries whom government is sponsoring for health courses at Boitekanelo College have been urged to cultivate a culture of discipline in the health sector.

Minister of Youth Sport and Culture, Mr Shaw Kgathi said this when handing over of letters of admission to 121 youth recently. The young people were adopted by the Ministry of Health for training as health educators at the college.

He urged the recipients to have the highest level of discipline and abide by the college’s ethics and standards. The beneficiaries who were trained at the recent Tsetsebye boot camp will undergo a 12-month training programme. They will be posted at various health facilities and areas in Bobirwa upon completion.

Mr Kgathi described the health sector environment as sensitive and encouraged them to maintain confidentiality. He challenged them to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner during their studies and avoid alcohol, drug abuse and risky sexual behaviours.

Mr Kgathi stated that the Tsetsebye boot camp was unique in that the young people were trained for the Ministry of Health and promised that other boot camps would be area specific after identifying the needs of different ministries and departments.

He added that his ministry had a mandate to assist youth and interventions such as Youth Empowerment Scheme which packages Youth Development Fund (YDF), Back to School and re-tooling programmes were some of its efforts.

The minister stated that the YDF scheme had received 68 business proposals with 18 projects approved and funded during this financial year. He urged youth to continue submitting their proposals. As for youth who were not interested in business ventures, he urged them to use re-tooling programmes such as back-to-school.

Meantime, Bobirwa District Health Management Team official, Dr George Rubanga informed beneficiaries the health profession was demanding and taxing and required people with great attitude. However, “it gives one joy, pride if one brings back the life of the patients who was nearing death”.

Dr Rubanga said the ministries of health and that of youth, sport and culture entered into an agreement to enroll youth as health educators after noticing some challenges in the area were due to shortage of personnel.

Dr Rubanga said the country had a strategy of accelerated child survival and development and aimed to achieve the goals of vision 2016 and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He said the health ministry had an obligation to reduce child and maternal mortality rates, control and prevent Malaria and HIV/AIDS which were targets of vision 2016 and MDGs.

Dr Rubanga said there was some concern in the area where some children under the age of five and mothers were losing their lives.

He said the death were due to diarrhoea and pneumonia. He said these were preventable and controllable diseases, hence the decision to engage youth to educate residents in the area about the situation.

He expressed concern about patients who came to health facilities when already too sick. The youth health educators’ job among others would include registering children under the age of five, and their involvement in high impact interventions such as immunisation, Vitamin A supplements, breast feeding and other health matters, he said.

Dr Rubanga also mentioned that every household that had a child less than five years must have two sachets of Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS) and a tablet of Zinc Sulphate for diarrhoea. The beneficiaries’ will leave for studies in Gaborone on October 2. ENDS