Ministry moves to address crowding in hospitals

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Thursday August 29, 2013 00:00

Speaking to Mmegi yesterday, principal public relations officer in the ministry, Doreen Motshegwa said that in their endeavour to deliver timely services in health facilities they would be adopting what they call block booking.This means that a working day will be broken into a number of sessions during which a group of people will be booked to see specialists. 

For example the first block would start from 7.30am to 9.30amh and the second block from 9.30am to 11.30am.If patients miss their appointments they will have to wait for an empty slot to see the doctor. This will help reduce overcrowding because some patients would come only in the evening when they know they would be booked to see a doctor.

These will be patients seeking specialised services like those with chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, those going for physiotherapy; speech therapy; those with ear, nose and throat problems; those who are seeking sexual reproductive health services; ARV services and those who go for child welfare clinics.Patients with emergencies do not need to make an appointment.Motshegwa says the system has already started in Gaborone, Francistown and Sbrana Psychiatric Hospital.

They are currently targeting highly populated facilities while at other facilities patients might not need to go through a booking. These are clinics that do not record high numbers a day.She says that they are alive to the fact that the new system is going to experience challenges, but it has potential to address overcrowding challenges if patients cooperate.'We are burdened by the increased frequency at which people get ill. The rate at which people fall ill has increased drastically in recent years,' she said.

In acknowledging shortage of manpower in health facilities, Motshegwa said that it was unfortunate that they could not hire any more doctors since there were no vacancies.Meanwhile, she says, the ministry has outsourced specialised services from an Indian company, which recruits health-specialised services to offer services across the country.The company is said to have about 53 specialised doctors, which includes oncologists, gynaecologists and eyespecialists.