Phikwe Government Hospital finally gets COHSASA accreditation

Onalenna Kelebeile | Friday March 30, 2018 11:42

This makes it the third public hospital in the country to be accredited by this international body.  This milestone adds to Selebi-Phikwe town’s attractiveness to investors because accredited health facilities are one of the prerequisites that investors need before they can set up.

The hospital’s superintendent, Dr Joseph Sharma said they will be awarded an internationally recognised certificate and that this increases the fortunes of the town economically. He added that the hospital exceeded the set pass mark of 85% and achieved 93%.  He added that they attained this achievement within four yours unlike other facilities that pursue for close to 10 years.

The hospital prides itself in the fact that they recorded no maternal mortality for the whole year and very few under fives mortality rate as only three deaths out of 1,890 live births were recorded. “Sustainable Development Goals expect us to reduce by two-thirds and we managed that. Our waiting time indicators are also good as the waiting period is 70 minutes against the set target of 90 minutes. Our infection control system is also effective as our infection rate is only 1.2 percent and the quality of care that we provide is generally good,” he added.

Sharma noted that though the town’s HIV prevalence rate remains the highest, the HIV-related mortality has reduced while the general hospital mortality is only two percent. He noted during an interview that this reflects hard work and commitment in applying the values set by the Ministry of Health.

“We are doing well in the performance indicators because even customer complaints have reduced. We managed this by working as a team and the national accreditors were impressed because we have put in place quality improvement projects across all our departments,” he added. He further noted that 26 service elements were assessed and all of them got above 80%. He added that now the challenge remains that they have to maintain the momentum and they have already put quality improvement strategies in place.

“I am happy to lead such an outstanding hospital. We may have challenges, but we use our quality improvement systems to close the gaps.  The whole thing means the quality of service we provide to our customers is excellent,” he added.

Sharma was happy that this achievement has also motivated the staff. SPGH is a district hospital servicing seven local clinics and five private medical facilities and it also serves as a referral centre for Mmadinare and Bobonong primary hospitals as well as their catchment areas. The hospital also receives patients from greater Francistown and greater Palapye. The hospital superintendent also said they managed to absorb 1,200 patients who were enrolled on ARVs as well as 1,000 patients for other diseases from the BCL Mine hospital.

Dr Sharma also added that they received formal correspondence for those who were injured at work to be absorbed by government facilities. He said such patients receive the necessary support and some have been referred to the specialist. Though this has made local health facilities busy, it is hoped that the anticipated new hospital would address the situation.