Light in the midst of darkness
WHO- UK Emergency Medical Team returns
Botswana last Friday bid farewell to the fivemember WHO- UK Emergency Medical Team who came into the country at the peak of the Covid- 19 pandemic to assist in containing the disease.
The team composed of one female and four male doctors. They left the comfort of their homes to answer an appeal to lend a helping hand to the already overwhelmed and fatigued local medical practitioners who could not cope with the ravaging pandemic.
The months of June and July 2021 will go on record as the worst months where more citizens succumbed to the deadly virus. But, the situation improved for the better subsequent to the coming in of the Emergency Medical Team whose presence helped to re- energise and restored hope in the entire nation.
Each speaker was not only emotional in their speech at the farewell. Setting the tone was the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dr. Tshepo Machacha who indicated that during the peak of a medical war, the team left their families, homes and countries to come and fight in Botswana.
“You sacrificed your souls and your lives”. Complementing the team, Dr. Machacha said the team was on the ground helping people, and in the process brought smiles to many. “You have no idea what you did; you saved the nation,” he said, but warned that the country is not yet out of the woods.
WHO Representative Dr. Josephine Nambozi expressed gratitude that the team had met the expectation of imparting skills to the local team, such that Botswana is moving towards coming up with their own medical team.
“I am hoping that in the next few days, the team will be finalised so that they can go for training in Addis Ababa and it is something that they have learnt from the team”.
Dr. Nambozi also appreciated the management of Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital and Princess Marina Teaching Hospital for the reception they accorded the team. “If you had not opened these doors, it would not have been possible for them to do what they had to do”.
She said the team came at a time when local medical staff was fatigued and people had given up. “But I think you tried to infuse energy into the teams and bring hope where the situation was perhaps hopeless”. The team was initially scheduled to be in the country for six weeks, however, their stay was extended by a further four weeks.
A representative of the Team, Dr. Eunice Chege said as they exit Botswana, his hope is that all the work that they have done will go a long way in helping people of Botswana.
“It is my hope that you learned from us much as we learned from you. I hope that you will make the hospitals even better and follow our recommendations to be stronger”.
Nursing Manager at Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital, Othusitse Fani said they are grateful that the Ministry did accede to the UK team coming to SKTH. He said at the time, staff members were discouraged not because they did not know what to do, but because Covid cases were high and the situation was disturbing.
“But, with the presence of this team I knew that they would assist. Our emergency and intensive care teams were able to adopt great interventions”.
Keatholetse Thapologo of the Intensive Care Unit at PMH said the UK medical team came and assisted with training them. They managed to train 236 healthcare workers of the hospital and this covers over 80 percent of the critical units.
“We learned a lot from you more than you can ever know, and we promise that whatever we learnt remains in us and it will be sustained. You can come after five years and you will find us still working”. British High Commissioner Sian Price described the 10 weeks period as amazing. “Today is a joyous day, we have so much to celebrate and be proud of. It is wonderful to hear the sort of feedback we have. “It is very rare to get to hear that you have been inspirational. I am proud because you came during the middle of a storm and you brought energy, form and joy again”.