Only 55 surgeons in Botswana

Members of Parliament (MPs) learnt on Friday that the number of various surgical specialities stands at around 8,555 while the country only has 55 surgeons. This came after the MP for Selebi-Phikwe West, Dithapelo Keorapetse had asked the Minister of Health to update Parliament on the backlog of surgeries and medical procedures in the country.

In response to Keorapetse’s question, Assistant Health Minister Sethomo Lelatisitswe said this number reflects patients in the three referral hospitals and six district hospitals excluding Athlone District Hospital.

For ophthalmology (cataract surgery), Parliament learnt that a patient can wait for 24 months.

“It must be noted that these services are offered in only two facilities mainly Sekgoma Referral Hospital and Scottish Livingstone Hospital,” Lelatisitswe said.

As for gynaecologists, a patient can wait for 16 months and according to the minister, there are three gynaecologists across the country.

He said urology patients wait for 11 months also to be assisted.

However, the minister revealed that the total number of patients awaiting medical checkups by medical specialists is reducing daily due to the improving number of medical specialists working in the health facilities. He said currently, they have 169 medical specialists.

Therefore, this has improved the placement of doctors in district hospitals which improves access to services.

“Due to issues with the different database, we currently have 9,145 awaiting patients. This number reflects in three hospitals excluding Athlone District Hospital.

“The most affected areas for patients awaiting to be seen by medical specialists are paediatrics, internal medicine and family physicians, for which the patient awaiting time is three months.

Please do note, that the above forenamed have recently graduated in large numbers and this will significantly reduce the patients’ waiting periods,” he told Parliament. The minister added they have short-term solutions as the ministry recently recruited specialists from Cuba who reported between December 2022 and January this year.

Some of the short-term solutions according to the minister include working with the private sector to refer urgent cases to prevent complications, and partnerships with other key stakeholders/ partners to reduce the backlog, stating that these have been done to address areas such as ophthalmology, orthopaedics and gynaecology. Lelatisitswe further pointed out that the ministry has sent a delegation to Cuba to recruit more Cuban medical specialists and also they are engaging with the Directorate of Public Service Management to improve working conditions and remunerations to attract and retain specialists.