HEALTH MINISTRY NOT WELL

PROBLEMS besieging the local healthcare system appear to be far from over as the Ministry of Health and Wellness proposed a way lesser amount for its development budget for the coming financial year.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Lemogang Kwape, recently proposed before the Committee of Supply that his ministry be granted a combined budget of P8 billion, majority of it being the recurrent budget.

Out of the total amount, he requested P7 billion as a recurrent budget while P358 million is for development budget.

While the ministry will get the smaller development budget, Kwape has admitted that there are problems affecting the health sector in Botswana. “My ministry is facing congestion in many health facilities across the country, particularly at our major hospitals and some clinics which operate on 24-hour basis,” he said, adding that the ministry will increase its engagement with the private sector as a remedy to the situation.

Furthermore, the ministry is faced with shortage of manpower at its facilities, which impacts on service provision.

Kwape says the situation is made worse by staff turnover and scarcity of specialists, leading to increased referral costs to other countries, especially South Africa.

The minister has revealed that they have sent 180 in-service professionals to pursue further studies on various disciplines.

While the existing health infrastructure is overwhelmed, Kwape said implementation of National Development Plan (NDP) 11 projects have not yet started as initially planned.

PROJECTS

With a budget deficit projected in the coming 2020/2021 financial year, he said priority has since been given to implementing projects which started in the previous financial years.

“This scenario has left limited or no allowance for introduction of new projects save for those that are partially donor-funded,” he told the Committee of Supply.