27 Jan 2025

Member of Parliament for Gaborone Central, Dr Phenyo Butale has encouraged the constituency leadership to join hands and work as a team to successfully bring services closer to constituents.

The MP, who was speaking during a meet and greet session recently, assured the constituency leadership  of his support to ensure that they delivered on their diverse mandates to develop the area. He explained that the purpose of the meeting was to appreciate progress of developments and projects in the constituency.

Giving a brief summary of the progress of projects and programmes undertaken in Gaborone Central constituency during the third quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year, acting principal District Officer for Development, Ms Orabile Seeletso said the constituency faced challenges such as unemployment, education and student welfare and healthcare access, despite efforts put in place to ensure sustainable development and improved quality of life for residents.

The main clinic in Gaborone Central, she said, was the Extension Two clinic which operated 24 hours and had an X-Ray and Ultrasound services. She said there was also Gaborone Central Clinic, which opened in October 2023 and operated for eight hours a day.

Other challenges faced by the constituency, she said was prevalence of non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, sugar diabetes and obesity, which were increasing in the constituency.

She also noted that there was staff shortage across all health facilities, which remained a challenge that affected both doctors, nurses and pharmacy.

“Generally, work morale among health personnel is low due to burn out as a result of work load. Despite Gaborone District Health Management Team having engaged private securities across all our facilities, one important issue of concern is security of our health facilities,” she added.

Ms Seeletso said there was need for health facilities maintenance, as most of the clinics had not been maintained for many years. ENDS