06 Mar 2024

Francistown South MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi has pleaded with the Ministry of Health to consider reviewing the Public Health Act.

Mr Mmolotsi made the plea when debating the Ministry of Health budget proposal for the 2024/2025 financial year. 

He said the review of the act should be fast-tracked to align it with handling all pandemics. 

“The advent of COVID-19 has rendered our Public Health Act and health policy toothless to deal with pandemics through exposing so many loopholes in the country’s national health policy which led to government resorting to imposing a series of presidential state of emergencies to control the pandemic,” Mr Mmolotsi said.

He argued the importance of bringing to Parliament the necessary amendments of the health act.

In response to legislator’s requests, Minister of Health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti said the review of the National Health Policy was at an advanced stage and that drafting was expected to be completed by next month. 

“The policy is expected to go through the July Parliament session for approval. Completion of the policy will set in motion the development of health sector strategic plans aligned to the TNDP as well as presenting a  common purpose towards building a prosperous and healthy nation,” he said.

Dr Dikoloti said the review of the Medicines and Related Substance Act of 2013 was also in progress, saying the bill was re-submitted to the Attorney General last month for further instructions.

“The alignment will enhance healthcare and improve access to safe medicines as well as attract pharmaceutical sector investment,” he said.

In addition, Dr Dikoloti admitted that the country had been struggling with low availability of essential medicines for the past three years for various  reasons, including limited local manufacturing capacity, limited access to international manufacturers and the negative impact of COVID-19 on global supply chains.

He said the ministry, through the support of Botswana missions abroad, had managed to establish relations with international pharmaceutical manufacturers for accessing the global market. 

“The ministry also reached out to international partners such as UNICEF, WHO and PEPFAR-funded partners for assistance,” he stated.

Through the initiative, Dr Dikoloti said vital and essential medicines were procured and delivered with availability of life-saving medicines currently standing at 78 per cent, essential medicines at 62 per cent and non-essential medicines at 54 per cent as at February.

Dr Dikoloti said while there was notable improvement in the availability of medicines and medical commodities, a lot remained to be done to strengthen the supply chain to ensure national commodity security.

He promised that the ministry would continue to work closely with Botswana missions abroad to access reputable international pharmaceutical manufacturers while supporting the development of the local pharmaceutical industry through the award of tenders on framework contracts.

Dr Dikoloti requested Parliament to approve over P9.4bn as well as P504.5m for the ministry’s recurrent and development budgets respectfully for the 2024/2025 financial year. Ends