16 Feb 2021

The Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe is aware of the lengthy waiting periods for some of the surgeries that are performed in government health facilities.

Answering a question from  Nkange Member of Parliament, Dr Never Tshabang, the assistant minister said in some specialty areas, the delay was beyond the standard waiting time of two months.

“The delay is, in part, caused by a shortage of medical specialists and other aspects of operational management, including procurement consideration,” he said. Parliament was also informed that the ministry was actively working to correct that value-chain problem.

Furthermore, Mr Lelatisitswe said in cost-effectively solving problem sooner rather than later, they looked forward to receiving the support of the key stakeholders, including MPs, partners in service delivery (both public and private) and the consuming public.

He also told the House that initiatives were currently being implemented to address the long waiting time such as outsourcing some of the specialist services to local and international private markets.

The other initiative being implemented includes the recruitment of medical specialists through an array of platforms including individual requests and arrangements with other countries like China, Cuba and India.

The assistant minister said the above interventions could only be seen as short term or interim measures, adding that beyond that, they have to pursue a public –sector delivery baseline, which had to be informed by a retrospective review of processes.

He highlighted that the review of processes would look into how they procure and manage their diagnostic infrastructure, especially in major health facilities which carry a burden of the underlying surgical cases.

MP Tshabang had asked the minister if he was aware that patients waited for long periods to undergo surgery at government facilities at times, more than six months. He also wanted to know what the minister intended to do to improve the situation as many patients died awaiting surgery.  Ends