Bokamoso should not dissapoint...

Editor | Thursday January 14, 2010 00:00

If what Kabelo Ebineng, the Managing Director of the Associated Fund Administrators, who run the government's medical insurances, is anything to go by, the new hospital will offer some of the best service in the world at reasonable charges that will be lower than what people have been charged historically.

So reasonable will be the charges that it will not be necessary to fly or transport patients needing specialised care and treatment to South Africa as has largely been the norm.
And the hospital will be providing treatment for special cases that have hitherto been transported to India, Pakistan and South Africa.

That means, people who could not get treatment locally because there were no specialist doctors for their conditions or because they could not afford the hundreds of thousands of Pula normally needed for treatment can now access such heath care in this country.

Yes, we hope we will soon hear that kidney and heart and other hitherto minimally available or non-available treatment is available here. The hospital is clearly intended as a centre of excellence. We hope it does become a centre of excellence, not just locally but also regionally.

We must caution though, that Bokamoso should be wary of the many pitfalls in the health service terrain. Scars that many a patient carry as a result of negligence, ill-treatment and absolute disregard of the patient's sensitivities, by those who should have known better.

It is our contention that there should be no room for mistake, no room for ineptitude, arrogance - you can name it, at the new hospital.

The workers at the hospital will need to remember that the patient they are assisting has most likely in his/her own little way contributed towards the construction of the Hospital - for the hospital has been financed through medical aid premiums from employees who are members of government schemes, namely Botswana Medical Aid Society (BPOMAS) and PULA.

So while we shout kudos to Bokamoso, let not this moment and hope be something that will go into the garbage bin of history, as history itself has ever so often cruelly shown us.

                                                 Today's thought
                                 'Health is not valued till sickness comes.'

                                                     Thomas Fuller

                                   British Clergyman and Writer - 1608-1661