Boitekanelo College, doctors’ union partner
In an effort to improve patient healthcare as well as develop a pool of good leadership in the country’s healthcare system, Botswana Doctors Union (BDU) and Boitekanelo College have announced a groundbreaking partnership.
The two organisations’ new relationship was sealed on Thursday evening following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Boitekanelo College’s Tlokweng campus. The goal is to develop a collaborative approach to improving the quality of healthcare.
Through this partnership, Boitekanelo College will offer BDU members, and other allied healthcare professionals the opportunity to enrol for a leadership and management programme offered through the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Boitekanelo College founding president, Dr Tiroyaone Mampane said COVID-19 exposed the shortage of healthcare professionals equipped with leadership and strategic skills within the healthcare system.
“When we requested the partnership, out of the areas that we looked at, we wanted to focus mainly on the area of leadership and strategic management for health professionals.
This emanated and was driven by what really transpired during the COVID-19 period,”
Mampane said. He added that although during this period more doctors are needed in the clinical space, there was also a gap that needed to be filled by doctors in the leadership and strategic space.
“We really felt that we needed to start training our healthcare professionals around issues of strategy management, leadership and economy or anything that talks about business so that they don’t just make clinical decisions but those that are driven by what happened during the pandemic,” he said. He explained that under the programme, the institution will offer discounts to healthcare professionals and allied workers. He also stated that the programme will assist BDU members with their Continuous Professional Development, which will enable them to continue practising.
Moreover, he said the institution will develop the curriculum with their partners to ensure that it is industry-driven and will have an impact on the country’s healthcare system as a whole. Mampane alluded that the programme will reduce complaints and scandals within the healthcare profession. BDU president, Shingirai Muzondiwa said the partnership with Boitekanelo College will equip their members with the opportunity “to want to step up to the calling”.
“Some of us would enrol with your institution and be taken under your wing so that we create the next generation of good healthcare leaders. Our interest is for us to continue doing the work in a way that you would be proud of us, that encourages us to go forward,” Muzondiwa said.
Like his counterpart at Boitekanelo College, Muzondiwa said COVID-19 has exacerbated the need for more healthcare professionals with leadership skills.
He explained that in most instances, doctors are promoted to managerial positions, without the necessary leadership skills and often succumb to work pressures that come with it. He said this programme will bridge that gap in the long run and benefit the whole healthcare system.