22 Nov 2022

Government through its primary health revitalisation programme aims for people-oriented healthcare, Minister of Health Dr Edwin Dikoloti has said.

In his contribution to the State-Of-the-Nation Address Monday, Dr Dikoloti  said government had invested heavily in basic health and revisited its approach to delivering quality healthcare.

He cited the decentralisation of the healthcare system through capacity-building at the district level as one of the strategic decisions that resulted in 18 District Health Management Teams (DHMT) countrywide.

He said one of the efforts to deal with the challenge of decongestion was to increase bed capacity at hospitals and capacitate outreach programmes through the assistance of volunteer health professionals.

He said government was planning to engage some stakeholders to make use of the isolation centres or consider setting up rehabilitation centres.

Dr Dikoloti said government had sent some nurses for further training in the US as it was a priority to develop an ecosystem around vaccine development.

He decried high levels of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which he described as a serious health scare in the country.

He said government was committed to the fight against NCDs and would provide outdoor gyms, appealing to the private sector to come on board.

He said Botswana had successfully reached a milestone in its UNAIDS bid of 95-95-95 strategy, the feat worth celebrating as the country had exceeded its targets.

He said the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic was equally a success story.

He said when the pandemic was first reported Botswana did not have the capacity to test, but went on record success in its testing and vaccination drive.

He said it was through the relentless efforts and political will of President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi that the country managed to achieve such success and appealed to Batswana to put their differences aside and join hands.

Dr Dikoloti, also  Mmathethe/Molapowabojang MP, decried the poor state of road infrastructure in the constituency.

He said the Gathwane-Kgoro road, which has been in the pipeline for a long time, was a link between Ngwaketse and Rolong areas.

He pleaded that Mmathethe be upgraded to a sub-district to bring services closer to the people.

Dr Dikoloti said the communities in his constituency had heeded President Masisi’s call to take up agricultural opportunities, especially horticulture, which he described as a great opportunity in the area since the national demand for horticultural produce was not yet met.

He also thanked government for the Good Hope water masterplan and other infrastructural developments in the area.

For his part, MP for Boteti East Mr Setlhomo Lelatisitswe said the Reset Agenda was an appropriate roadmap to follow and deliver.

He said President Masisi had not reneged on his promise of quality service delivery.

Mr Lelatisitswe, who is also Assistant Minister of Health, said the upgrading of subordinate authorities made a clear distinction between tribal territories and administrative districts, which was a bit of a challenge to some people.

He said the challenges brought by the effects of the pandemic had taught many people that internal capacity building was vital to all sectors.

He gave an example of the import ban on vegetables, saying it resulted in a flourishing market for local fresh produce.

He said Boteti was a wide area stretching over 500km, thus required proper services to reach its people.

He said the salinity of potable water was also worsening due to proximity of the area to Makgadikgadi pans.

In a bid to address the water salinity challenge, Mr Lelatisitswe said Boteti could be connected to the north water pipeline.

He decried the rampant human/wildlife conflict as most farmers had deserted their ploughing fields due to infiltration of wildlife, especially elephants. ENDS