The reports paint a negative picture on our health system and these could erode public trust on our public health system. The incident is one of the many cases of negligence we have reported about. Government is losing millions of pula in litigation due to negligence at public health facilities. We are aware that public health workers, especially nurses and doctors, are understaffed and work under pressure. Nurses are forced to work duties that they are not remunerated for. This is a reality and most of them opt out of the service and relocate to the United Kingdom in search of better salaries. As we had aforementioned, cases of negligence in clinics and hospital are too many and government has acknowledged that.
The Ministry of Health and Wellness has had a few controversial incidents in the recent past. Early this year, we reported that patients at Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone and Molepolole’s Scottish Livingstone Hospital had received syphilis-infected blood. Minister Dorcas Makgatho took the blame for it. A similar case followed in August when three officers from the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) were suspended following yet another incident of contaminated blood. The contaminated blood was supplied to Princess Marina and Scottish Livingstone hospitals recently.
