Manpower crisis hampers health services delivery

CALISTUS KOLANSTSHO
Correspondent | Tuesday September 14, 2010 00:00

This came to light when the Parliamentary Health Committee and the Special Select Committee on HIV/AIDS toured health facilities yesterday.

A senior nurse at Tapologong Clinic, Ditsame Kebalepile said the facility, which is the biggest clinic in Selebi-Phikwe, operates with six nurses and one doctor. She said the maternity wing has eight nurses who work on shifts. Kebalepile mentioned that most of the equipment they use is too old. She noted that nurses are also forced to do other duties due to lack of qualified manpower. The MPs were also informed that close to seven nurses resigned between June and August while others went on early retirement after primary health services were recently taken over by the Ministry of Health.

For his part, ARV and Safe Male Circumcision (SMC) Focal Person at Tapologong, Dr Olohe Nkaya said the SMC was implemented at the clinic in 2008. He explained that the operation is conducted by a doctor and the nurse who provides the necessary counselling before any circumcision is performed.

'The demand for circumcision is high but the equipment that we use is old. The surgical table we use is not adjustable and it is not comfortable to work on it,' he said. Nkaya said Botshabelo Clinic could not be turned into a 24-hour facility because the infrastructure is small and it has no theatre. He stated that they are advocating for enough manpower and for more nurses to be trained on safe male circumcision. Nkaya urged the ministry to come up with a clear policy on the circumcision of children under 10 years. He explained that parents bring their children but they cannot carry out the procedure due to lack of a clear policy.

Selebi-Phikwe Government Hospital senior medical officer, Legesse Mamo reported that 500 males came for circumcision last year but since the beginning of this year only 146 have been circumcised. He observed that the number was higher last year because the programme was still new but the hospital management was in the process of doing community mobilisation on SMC. He added that there are 3,500 patients on ARVs at the hospital and in total 8,000 patients have been registered. He stated that 1,500 have been transferred to private facilities. Mamo explained that they are working closely with private practitioners.

 'Our intention is to circumcise 50 men per week but we are failing to do that because of shortage of manpower. We are also faced with a challenge of people who do not want to be tested for HIV before circumcision. They just want to do it and go. People must realise that it is important to do the test before circumcision because it is meant to reduce chances of HIV infection,' Mamo said.