Health ministry dithers while Batswana die

OWN CORRESPONDENT

editors@thepatriot.co.bw

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has conceded that the Private Practice Licensing Committee has not been able to meet for many months and blames this anomaly on COVID-19 pandemic.

This committee has not been scheduling monthly meetings to approve licensing for private businesses and doctors. Only two meetings were held since the beginning of this year. Now private clinics and hospitals are up in arms and blame the office of the Director of Health Services of being incompetent.

“There are many unemployed healthcare practitioners including doctors who have been waiting to be granted permission to practice because they are waiting for the Director of Health Services to grant them permission,” said a disgruntled private doctor who runs a clinic in Gaborone.

Another private doctor added that there are also multitudes of qualified doctors who are trying to come work in Botswana but are awaiting registration, some have even been waiting for more than two years.

“People are dying because the Ministry says they are short of Healthcare practitioners, but there are many unemployed,” he said.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness spokesperson Christopher Nyanga agreed that there has been some disruptions in the Ministry. He said the Ministry is fully aware of the many meetings that could not take place owing to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic as already alluded to, and has now devised a plan to resume meetings and attend to all pending applications and issues expeditiously.

 Nyanga added that the licensing duties as dispatched by the Private Practice Licensing Committee assisted by the secretariat in the Ministry has been disrupted by the current COVID-19 pandemic which had many officers undergoing isolation and quarantine. “As a result of this, the committee has not been able to quorate, rendering it unable to dispense of any pending applications,” Nyanga said.

However, he explained that administrative processes were put in place to ensure continuous service delivery especially vetting of applications to facilitate expeditious licensing in the next committee meeting. He disputed that there is backlog of licensing and issuing doctors with blue cards.

Issuance of blue cards is a function of Botswana Health Professional Council (BHPC) for health care workers who meet the criteria as per the BHPC Act, he said. “Currently there is no backlog for blue cards issuance for general practitioners but the ministry acknowledges the delay in registration for specialist doctors. The BHPC is undergoing automation to ensure that its processes are enhanced to avoid any future delays.”

The spokesperson said the Ministry is hopeful for an immediate resolution of these outstanding issues in the coming few weeks. “In order to attend to the pending issues before the ministry committee dealing with licensing of health facilities and issuance of private practicing licences, a meeting has now been scheduled for 25 August 2021.”

Nyanga explained that the use of technology will also be leveraged in order that the regularity of any meetings scheduled is not disrupted by any possible COVID-19 situations.