27 Oct 2024

Party leaders on Thursday night, had an opportunity to impress the electorate on their manifestos on critical topics of national interest during a Presidential Debate.

Topical issues of concern included, health, education and national security.

Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) presidential candidate, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said during COVID-19 pandemic, his government preserved the lives of Batswana by prioritising procurement of medicines and other associated needs over development projects.

“Thanks to the BDP government, even leaders of the opposition were saved,” he said and pointed out that his government continued to address health sector challenges as more hospitals continued to be built with some still planned cross the country.

Dr Masisi said that the pandemic exposed the inadequacies of local institutions, something he said was addressed.

“We assisted our premium laboratories with scientific research capabilities, which is why Botswana was the first country to detect the Omicron variant,” he said.

Because of this capacitation, President Masisi said, Botswana would soon produce vaccines locally, including at the Botswana Vaccine Institute which would add diversity to human vaccines.

Botswana Congress Party (BCP) leader and presidential aspirant, Mr Dumelang Saleshando said that his party was concerned about the long waiting list to get assistance even for critical medical conditions.

“Batswana still travel long distances to get medical help, only to be turned back and given appointment dates that go into the next year, but BCP has answers to all those,” he said.

He also said that his government would facilitate free general checkups once a year for every Motswana, to help in the early detection of underlying ailments.

“We did that in my constituency and our target was to assist about 1 000 people, but we ended up helping over 5 000 who managed to get assistance before their ailments became terminal,” he said.

Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), Advocate Duma Boko said the COVID-19 pandemic only proved what was already known, that health facilities across the country had no resources and had shortage of staff, which was also underpaid.

“This status quo still continue under the BDP rule, and despite about P17 billion budget allocated to the Ministry of Health annually, only a small fraction of this directly benefits an ordinary Motswana,” he said.

He said his government would create a national health insurance scheme and medical aid for every Motswana, which he said would also help private hospitals to grow as it would see an increase in clientele.

Botswana Patriotic Front candidate, Mr Mephato Reatile said if voted into power, his government would establish a national health insurance care to enable quality health access by all.

“This will be paid for by government. The arrangement will also help address the current situation where people have to wait for years if they need to see a specialist,” he said.

Mr Reatile further indicated that this would also be a solution to the challenge where people travel long distances to access government health facilities, often leaving private ones nearby. Ends