29 Jan 2014

Residents of Inalegolo in the Hukuntsi Sub-district have decried the dilapidated state of the area's health post.

One of the residents, Ms Bellina Sento, raised the concern during a kgotla meeting addressed by Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi North, Mr Phillip Khwae.

She said the health post was in dreadful condition and in no state to serve the community because it had not been renovated in a long time. Ms Sento said the solar panel devices that were installed to provide the health post with electricity stopped working a long time ago.

As a result, nurses used candles and torches when they had to work at night. She said the poor maintenance situation worsened after the transfer of health facilities from councils to the Ministry of Health.

“The sub-district council used to do a tremendous job on revamping the health facilities but the situation has since worsened since the Ministry of Health took over all health facilities,” she said.

Ms Sento urged the government to move swiftly to renovate the health post and upgrade it into a clinic with a maternity wing.

She said the bad road and the distance from Inalegolo to Kang made the referral of patients from Inalegolo Health Post to Kang clinic a daunting and strenuous experience.

Therefore, she stressed that efforts to upgrade Inalegolo Health Post into a clinic deserved priority. She pleaded with health authorities to extend the mobile clinic service to areas that surround Inalegolo because it was evident that the majority of Inalegolo residents were Basarwa who adhered to their age-old nomadic lifestyle.

In response, Mr Khwae said he was aware of the dilapidated state of health facilities in Hukuntsi Sub-District. He attributed the delay in refurbishment of the health posts to the fact that the Department of Building and Engineering Services stopped doing maintenance work in health facilities in the sub-district.

Mr Khwae said the Ministry of Health had since deployed a private company based in Gaborone to do all maintenance work in the sub-district, a move that would have a negative impact on health facilities.

He said it was not sustainable for clinics and health posts to be maintained by a company based in Gaborone, more than 500 kilometres away because prolonged breakdowns could lead to loss of life. He promised to deliver the residents’ concerns to the Ministry of Health. ENDS