MoH turns the tide on the year’s early ‘blues’
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Monday December 25, 2023 06:00
As early as January, Health minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloto found himself under serious pressure as he had to defend the comments he allegedly made in a leaked audio between himself and Member of Parliament for Mahalapye West, David Tshere. In the leaked telephone audio, Tshere made a call to Dikoloti telling him that residents of Mahalapye were complaining about a shortage of medication in clinics and hospitals.
Dikoloti asked Tshere to tell the relevant officers to order medication at Central Medical Stores (CMS). He also said some officers support Tshere politically and he (Tshere) must ask them to stop sabotaging Batswana.
The minister came under fire for his comments and found his work cut out for him for the rest of the year to make things right at the ministry which was already bedevilled by several challenges. It was also a test of his leadership.
Challenges
Drug shortage
In January this year, the ministry revealed that it was forced to cancel over P2 million Government Purchase Orders (GPOs) due to failure to deliver on the part of some suppliers. This drug situation started during the COVID-19 pandemic period and it worsened as it now became a countrywide problem.
Conditions of service for health workers
Amid the drug shortage crisis, Dikoloti also had to grapple with extinguishing strikes by health workers who demanded improved conditions of service. Nurses want the government to discontinue the Call to Duty, where they are expected to report to duty when required to do so beyond their working hours.
Through the Botswana Nurses Union (BONU), the health workers argued that the Call to Duty was illegal, encroached on nurses’ rest period and exposed them to abuse by the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM). The ministry had to deal with another court case involving doctors who had allegedly engaged in a ‘strike’ within the health sector.
Despite a lackluster start to the year and all the issues, minister Dikoloti and his team at MoH headquarters faced the challenge head on. The minister acted swiftly to re-organise the CMS and strengthened its leadership. The minister had confidently told members of the media that he had a plan to address the situation of drug shortage. True to his word, by the first half of the year, all critical drugs were available in the country. High blood pressure medications, diabetes drugs, children’s drugs and many others were available in public health facilities. The cry on drug shortages was slowly fading away. As the year ends, the ministry says the CMS has in store all essential medicines, most of which can last the country for more than six months even if there is no supply. After many years of cries by the nursing fraternity that they needed representation in senior government structures, the ministry created the position of Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services.
Khumo Modisaeman was then appointed the Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services. In another remarkable milestone for the nursing profession, Dikoloti and his management team took a bold decision to send more than 300 Batswana doctors for specialisation to various universities in Africa and abroad. This was in view of the shortage of highly specialised medical services in the country.
The ministry also says about a thousand nurses are also undergoing higher and specialised training in different health institutions in Botswana and across the world. Hundreds of other allied health professionals are also in training in a historic feat that has never been achieved. This followed last year’s reports that Batswana nurses had flocked to the United Kingdom’s National Health Services (NHS) for greener pastures.
The ministry also hosted the WHO Regional Committee meeting known as RC 73 which was hailed as one of the most successful in recent memory. With the country’s growing burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), Dikoloti has heightened the fight against this scourge. He started the Walk For Life campaign which encourages people to take responsibility for their health and to walk 10,000 steps a day. Health facilities now conduct these walks to disseminate information about healthy living to all Batswana.
As the year went, the ministry also opened up to the media and became more accessible ready to answer and address any issues related to the ministry. Despite this being a complex ministry, the media was always engaged and invited to ministry events. As things stand, there is no doubt that MoH has emerged from the start of the year troubles, to be one of the most performing ministries around. Whilst there is more work to be done, minister Dikoloti must be looking at the positives and looking forward to continuing to improve the health system in 2024.