18 Aug 2021

Opening of the Mabutsane isolation centre is still pending due to shortage of health personnel, area sub-council chairperson, Mr Kgopolo Ramosesane has said.

In his opening speech at the sub-council meeting in Mabutsane on Monday, Mr Ramosesane told councillors that recruitment of nurses and other personnel was ongoing, and that the dire shortage of nurses countrywide had been a major setback.

“Presently, the isolation centre is used for testing, discharging and temporarily keeping critical COVID-19 patients while awaiting referral to other isolation centres,” he said.

The sub-district currently isolates patients at Ditsweletse clinic in Jwaneng which also assists other areas such as Moshupa Sub-district.

The Mabutsane isolation centre, which consists of four fully fitted porta cabins was donated by Debswana Jwaneng mine in April last year and it was previously reported that water connection was the only delaying factor in its opening.

Meanwhile Mr Ramosesane indicated that COVID-19 cases have been escalating in the sub-district since July. 

This, he said, had caused a great concern to the District Health Management Team (DHMT) and the sub-district in general.

He said statistics indicated that by the beginning of the second week of August the sub-district had registered a cumulative of 1 235 cases, among which 393 were active cases and 18 deaths. He said total recoveries were 824 representing a 66 per cent recovery rate.

He said the most affected age group was 10-19 years. “These are also found to be one of the super spreaders by reason of their maturity, therefore, special attention is needed to address them,” he said.

Mr Ramosesane said as a sub-district, they could only take solace in that the age group was not susceptible to death as they were mostly fit and had no underlying conditions.

He said some factors that could have contributed to the escalation of cases during the period included non-compliance in social gatherings and home isolation as well as harsh weather conditions that forced people to be indoors most of the time.

Mr Ramosesane also informed councillors that because of possible evidence that most people died while on home isolation, the Ministry of Health and Wellness had come up with a strategy to standardise the care of COVID-19 patients at home.

“The consolidation of the plan nationally has not happened yet. However, patients continue to receive care as much as possible. Stakeholders are greatly encouraged to give their input especially in relation to the improvement of care of these patients at home,” he said

On vaccination in the area, Mr Ramosesane indicated that so far phase one of SINOVAC vaccine had been completed with both first and second doses given while the second dose of ASTRAZENECA was only partly given with the supply of doses that were pending now sorted. 

He said the second dose of Sinovac was currently ongoing in the category of 45 years upwards.

On other issues, Mr Ramosesane appealed to communities in the sub-district to cooperate by practicing proper waste management to achieve high level of environmental cleanliness.

This, he said, entailed safe handling and disposal of waste. “We have unfortunately observed with concern, bad waste management practices as evidenced by littering along our main roads and waste disposed in the outskirts of our villages. The council together with Village Development Committees conduct clean up campaigns in villages but also need support of the community at large,” he said.

 

He said that the involvement of each member of the community towards reducing waste production, re-using and  recycling waste should be encouraged as it would eventually save money spent on refuse collection. BOPA