12 Mar 2014

MP for Mahalapye West, Mr Bernard Bolele has commended the Ministry of Health (MoH) for infrastructural development undertaken in the health sector throughout the country.

He said he was pleased with the improvement of supply of medicines, which was a major topic in Parliament last year. “I am not saying that the problem has been completely solved, but we must appreciate when a situation improves noticeably,” he said.

However, he cited the challenges in the supply and distribution of medicines and asked the minister to pay attention to incidences of shortages of vital medicines in health facilities.

Mr Bolele said the main issue was the logistics and timeous distribution of the right medicines to the right places at the right time and not the purchasing or storage of the medicines.

He gave an example of Mahalapye Hospital that when there was no water, the extra water storage tank available at the hospital was unable to pump water because it was not maintained.

The Mahalapye West legislator said government needed to pay attention to equipment that worked within narrow limits of performance and supply. MP for Francistown West, Dr Habaudi Hubona complained that clinics had no family welfare educators.

She said in the early 70s, there were preventive workers called family welfare educators adding that their disappearance meant that the health sector would not meet its indicators hence, the spread and escalating sexually transmitted infections.

She said rampant Tuberculosis would not be this high, if there were family welfare educators as it was the case in the past. Dr Hubona also noted that public health lacked local doctors which she said were critical to culture and public health prevention and control measures.

Member of Parliament for Bobirwa, Mr Shaw Kgathi urged the ministry to consider building a primary hospital at Bobonong. He said the last population and housing census had shown that Bobonong population had increased significantly.

Mr Kgathi further encouraged MoH to strengthen public health education on issues of wellness, food and nutrition, adding that most diseases emanated from lifestyles.

Contributing to the debate, MP for Kweneng East, Maj. Gen. Moeng Pheto called for improvement of public health sector, noting that most health facilities in his constituency had no incinerators to dispose clinical waste.

He called for adequate staffing at health facilities in his constituency and resources such as ambulances and generators where electricity was not provided. MP for Selebi Phikwe West, Mr Gilson Saleshando said he was surprised that construction of Selebi Phikwe Hospital was not included in the development budget.

He said Selebi Phikwe had always been ignored adding that there was no need to hurry in building the Mahalapye Hospital because Sekgoma Memorial Hospital serves Mahalapye and catchment areas. Mr Saleshando also called for an increase of Home Based Care volunteers’ allowance.

For his part, MP for Molepolole South, Mr Daniel Kwelagobe called for decentralisation of services to local health facilities adding that clinics served better at the time they were run by the councils.

He called for provision of ARVs for foreign nationals in prisons saying that controlling the scourge of HIV infection would remain a far-fetched dream as long as foreigners in prisons were not catered for.

MP for Maun West, Mr Tawana Moremi called on the ministry to intervene in assisting people working at the Okavango wetlands to have easy access to ARVs because employers do not permit them to go and fetch them at health facilities, hence they default. Ends