No medicine, no operations, public health system in freefall
Sharon Mathala | Wednesday August 6, 2025 09:11
In an unusually frank statement released Monday afternoon, the Ministry painted a grim picture of the country’s deteriorating health services, severe medicine shortages, postponed surgical procedures, and a staggering debt amounting to billions owed to private medical suppliers and facilities.
'Due to the ongoing financial challenges facing the country, which have left the country’s medicines and medical commodities situation severely strained, the Ministry has had to streamline some health services and prioritise saving lives over everything else,” the statement reads in part.
This statement is the first public admission by the ministry of the true scale of the crisis. Citizens across the country have for months voiced frustrations over unavailable chronic medications and postponed treatments. But this is the first official acknowledgment.
Patients with chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, asthma, and eye diseases are among the hardest hit, with the Ministry confirming a shortage of medication to manage these illnesses. Basic supplies like dressings, sutures, and sexual and reproductive health commodities are also in dangerously low supply.
The Ministry has also indicated that surgical operations that cannot be done internally will now be postponed indefinitely. Only emergency and urgent procedures will be prioritised; however, the ministry does not share what criteria will be used to categorise priorities.
“Compounding this challenge is the one-billion-pula debt owed to private health facilities and suppliers, amongst others, that the Ministry is currently navigating. As a result, the Ministry will, in the meantime, give priority to emergency and urgent surgical operations.”
Patients awaiting non-urgent surgeries at private referral hospitals will be managed within the public health system in the interim, the Ministry added. This development is expected to pile even more pressure on government-run hospitals and health centres already grappling with overcrowding and staff shortages. Recently, the ministry came under fire following a fierce court battle and exchange of public statements between the Ministry and the Botswana Doctors Union (BDU). The impasse resulted in a good number of doctors across the country not showing up for work.
Social media users now are arguing that the government has, for too long, ignored signs of a system under immense strain, and that the current crisis is a result of corruption. For now, patients alike are bracing for the worst with the haunting reality that the situation for some may be resolved when it is already too late.
The Ministry has pledged to continue doing everything possible to mitigate the crisis. It remains unclear how soon or if at all the health system can recover from its current state.