- Transferred staff not replaced
North West District Council (NWDC) chairman, Itumeleng Kelebetseng has expressed concerned that the Letsholathebe II Memorial Hospital continues to face a challenge of that are not replaced when transferred out.
Kelebetseng said the Ngami District Management Team (DHMT) continues to struggle with shortage of staff including doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dentists and radiographers. As of today, Kelebetseng revealed that there is still a vacancy of an Orthopaedic Surgeon since December 2023.
“This contributes to continued long waiting times at accident and emergency at Letsholathebe II Memorial Hospital, and also long waiting periods for review of Orthopedic patients. The patients are therefore being referred to Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital and Mahalapye District Hospital for further specialised care,” he indicated.
Furthermore, Kelebetseng lamented that the General surgeon also left the hospital on the 2nd August 2024 noting that a request for a relief doctor has since been submitted. According to him, the surgeon is temporarily expected in the district from 2nd September till 26th October 2024.
Kelebetseng added that the hospital is also experiencing mass exodus of its nurses to the United Kingdom (UK).
Letsholathebe II Memorial Hospital which has a 270-bed capacity and 11 nursing units on average receives 10 000 patients per month and an admission rate of 450 per month. It has a bed occupancy rate of 75% on average.
“Maun seems not to be popular with public servants so there are always problems with replacement of transfers,” the council chairman observed.
To cushion the situation, Kelebetseng indicated that the DHMT management has since requested for a replacement of various cadres from the Ministry of Health as it continuously recruits these from outside the country.
Last month, Botswana and Cuba signed a Memorandum of Agreement on cooperation in the area of specialised medical health care that will see up to 102 Cuban medical specialists being placed in different hospitals across the country. The long standing bilateral relations between the two countries in the health sector has seen Botswana over the years receiving various health specialists from Cuba to provide their medical services in different parts of the country.
The medical volunteers provide specialty in various medical fields comprising of epidemiology,
orthopedics, surgery, immunology, pediatrics, physiotherapy and gynecology and the contingent is deployed to major villages across the country.
Meanwhile, the North West District councilors have all expressed concern that the issue of shortage of staff at the Letsholathebe hospital has been going on for a long time without being resolved. They have since challenged the council chairman and the district commissioner to take the issue with the seriousness it deserves.
“We have talked about this issue for a long time but there seem not be any change. The service our patients receive here as compared to other districts is not acceptable at all,” nominated councilor, Brigadier Letsogile Motsumi complained.
