All health posts in the country will be upgraded to increase space and improve health service delivery.
President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama said the commitment contained in the National Health Policy was to ensure Batswana had access to quality health services in modern facilities.
He was speaking at the hand over of a P2.5 million health post financed by prominent businessman Mr Farouk Ismail to Kajaja community in the Okavango Sub-district on January 15.
The facility would offer more services, thereby reducing referrals to bigger facilities President Khama stated that health had always been a priority for government. This was shown by the amount of the national budget it had been getting over the years, which was surpassed only by that of the Ministry of Education and Skills Development.
Also, 95 per cent of Batswana, 89 per cent being the rural population, lived within five to eight kilometres radius of a health facility. President Khama said the new health facility was in a remote district that was was struggling to attract private sector investment and attention in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as well as philanthropic activities.
He hailed Mr Ismail for the donation, noting that it would alleviate the suffering of Kajaja residents who used to walk about 14 kilometres to the nearest health facility at Sepopa or 17 kilometres to Nxamasere.
“Your philanthropic undertakings have made quite a considerable contribution to the wellbeing of many of our fellow citizens. We are sincerely grateful not only for the donations, but most importantly of all for the fact that you have indeed espoused and driven some of our vision 2016 pillars.”
President Khama said the facility came at the right time, during the rainy season, which was usually associated with Malaria. Also, it was an important milestone in the government’s pursuance of healthy policy of ensuring health for all and guaranteeing Batswana access to primary health care services wherever they were.
The President said it was his government’s resolve that as they moved Botswana forward and resources permitting, ordinary people should not struggle to get crucial basic amenities that could also substantially contribute to improving their livelihoods.
The facility came about after the residents pleaded with government to provide them with a health post and primary school during his visit in 2013. It would benefit the community and the surrounding villages. President Khama aised them to assist the staff to take care of the facility as team work yielded good results.
“An act of kindness like this one should be appreciated and treated with respect through showing similar commitment to our vision values. We should recall that our government had been facing challenges to complete some of the planned infrastructural projects owing to the world economic recession,” the President noted.
He said it was important to treasure efforts that were aimed at improving theirs and children’s livelihoods.
Source : BOPA
Source : Botswana Daily News