Cases of negligence at health facilities worrisome
Mmegi Editor | Wednesday November 16, 2016 17:23
The reports paint a negative picture on our health system and these could erode public trust on our public health system. The incident is one of the many cases of negligence we have reported about. Government is losing millions of pula in litigation due to negligence at public health facilities. We are aware that public health workers, especially nurses and doctors, are understaffed and work under pressure. Nurses are forced to work duties that they are not remunerated for. This is a reality and most of them opt out of the service and relocate to the United Kingdom in search of better salaries. As we had aforementioned, cases of negligence in clinics and hospital are too many and government has acknowledged that.
The Ministry of Health and Wellness has had a few controversial incidents in the recent past. Early this year, we reported that patients at Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone and Molepolole’s Scottish Livingstone Hospital had received syphilis-infected blood. Minister Dorcas Makgatho took the blame for it. A similar case followed in August when three officers from the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) were suspended following yet another incident of contaminated blood. The contaminated blood was supplied to Princess Marina and Scottish Livingstone hospitals recently.
When confirming this incident, permanent secretary Shanaaz El Halabi said that syphilis was detected in the contaminated blood and blamed negligence and human error on the part of the officers, further saying that they failed to remove the contaminated samples. At the time the blood had already been transfused on patients.
This should be worrying to both the government and the ministry responsible. Noting that this incident is reported to have happened on April 30 and May 1, 2016, one wonders how many of these incidents could have happened and gone unreported. The ministry should do something about this. The minister should investigate and find out exactly what could be going on.
We are aware that this may be human error that could happen to anyone in any profession, but we are concerned by the rate at which they are happening. We call on the ministry to find ways to make sure that these things do not happen. In the case of those who suffered chemical application, they should be accorded special medical treatment and be compensated accordingly. We further call on the ministry to take its employees for refresher courses and accord them counselling at all times.
Today’s thought
“Success produces confidence; confidence relaxes industry, and negligence ruins the reputation which accuracy had raised.”
– Ben Jonson