Jubilee closure dismays residents

KEABETSWE NEWEL
Correspondent | Wednesday October 27, 2010 00:00

Lately, some citizens have been complaining that Jubilee Hospital is no longer the mother hospital it used to be. But now, the decision to close it down, to make way for the construction of the TB Ward, has not gone down well with the residents.

They cherish special memories about the institution.

Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital public relations officer, Caiphus Gabana, has confirmed that  Nyangabgwe Psychiatry Ward, where Jubilee now stands, is indeed being closed down.

According to Gabana, the Ministry of Health took an initiative to close down the ward and replace it with a TB unit which is currently under construction. 'The ministry carried out a survey in which they found out that the Northern Region is highly affected by TB, and so decided to replace Jubilee with a TB ward so as to address that problem,' Gabana said.

He said that all the Psychiatric patients have been moved to S'brana Hospital in Lobatse.The Lobatse Psychiatry,according to him, has got larger capacity and could absorb all the patients. He says 22 rooms will be constructed for the TB ward, and only space for three men and three women will be left for the psychiatry section.Gabana also said the decision by the ministry will negatively affect the northern region. 'Patients and families of patients from the north are economically disadvantaged. People from as far away as Maun who want to visit their patients will fail since it will be costly to travel to Lobatse,' Gabana said.

He said that although the families of patients were called and briefed of the plans, there was nothing they could have done since they had no choice.

Shadreck Nyeku, Mayor of Francistown, also expressed his concern saying that this is going to be an economical challenge to the residents of Francistown and the Northern Region in general.

'I was even more disappointed by the fact we were informed very late by the MoH. We were informed at a time when the contractor was already at the hospital doing some constructions,' Nyeku said.Nyeku said even workers at the hospital were not aware as they had to be moved, surprisingly under pressure, he said that although they are dissatisfied by the decision there is nothing they can do as the council.

The former Mayor of Francistown, Motlatsi Molapisi, spoke with consternation, saying, 'This is a problem'. According to him, patients were supposed to be moved to Lobatse only to seek better medical facilities and attention. He said the patients needed to be close to their families.

Molapisi, who stressed that he is against the decision taken by the MoH, said that at least the hospital could have been developed to a more established psychiatry.

'All services cannot go to the south, this is unacceptable. Everything that we need to do here is always referred to the South, we also need services in the North,' Molapisi said.

Molapisi, who blamed the parliamentary representatives of the city, said that they are ineffective. He said the MPs who represent Francistown have all their assets at Gaborone so they do not use any service in Francistown. That is making them abandon the city.

'The name 'Jubilee' is also going to die. Our history in Francistown is also being washed down the drainProfessor Lazarus Tlou, councillor for Itekeng Ward that swallows the Jubilee Hospital was also despondent of the initiative. He said this would be a final blow to the hospital and the name itself.

'We do not have a District Hospital in Francistown, Jubilee helped much now that the psychiatric ward has been shut down I do not know what will happen,' Prof Tlou said.

He said that at council level, their voice is never heeded. According to him people from around the northern region that wish to visit their admitted relatives, will now fail since the distance is too long and the costs too expensive.'Poor people are now going to avoid visiting their relatives. The government did not consider how families of the sick would feel. Our 2016 Vision to be caring and compassionate shows that we are still lagging behind,' he said.If the Ministry of Health, according to Tlou, could not be compassionate towards the sick and the poor, then there is still a long way to go.

He said that this takes the country back to those days of independence when a lot of things were impossible.'Our children who would be born five years from today will not know their rightful history. They would never know that the Jubilee Hospital used to exist. The history of Francistown is being flushed down the drain easily,' Tlou added.