28 Sep 2023

There is an improvement in the medicine availability in Boteti district, especially the most commonly used ones, Boteti District Council chairperson, Mr Molemi Galeragwe has said.

In his address at the Boteti District Council session recently, Mr Galeragwe said the current drug availability stood at 63 per cent compared to 53 per cent in the previous quarter.

“Vital drugs availability is 72 per cent, Essential 62 per cent while Necessary drugs are at 41 per cent,” he said.

This improvement, he said was due to availability of commodities from Central Medical Stores and also that procurement was conducted through micro procurement.

On the issue of non-dispensing of medicines by the nursing cadre, the council chairperson acknowledged challenges of promptly and efficiently servicing patients.

He however noted that dispensing was scheduled according to days of the week for all the clinics and health posts.

Mr Galeragwe said dispensing being conducted once a week in a given facility, was due to the already existing shortage pharmacy technicians across the country.

Still on health issues, the chairperson highlighted that out of a total of 20 medical doctors’ posts in the district, currently 15 positions were filled, while the five vacant positions were for Mokubilo, Xhumo, Motopi and Letlhakane Primary Hospital.

Mr Galeragwe also said there were clusters, which had doctors stationed at and these were Letlhakane/Tawana/Khwee, Mmatshumo/Mosu, while those that did not have doctors were Mokubilo/Mmea, Motopi/Makalamabedi/Moreomaoto/Khumaga and Xhumo/Toromoja/Mmadikola clusters.

The plan, he said was to conduct monthly outreach services from September while waiting for the positions to be filled, adding that the exercise had already commenced in Boteti East constituency.

As Boteti is one of the Malaria prone zones, Mr Galeragwe said preparations were ongoing for the upcoming indoor residual spraying exercise which would commence in October.

Villages that will be sprayed this year include Motopi, Makalamabedi, Moreomaoto, Khumaga and Toromoja and all surrounding cattle posts. ENDS