Medical school to double the intake

From a current enrolment of 200 nursing students, the medical school to be built in Moshupa is expected to double its student population once complete.

The multi-million Pula project, which is pioneered by KSDA hospital comes at a time when the residents of Moshupa have been crying about lack of a hospital in their village. Currently, the Institute of Health Sciences in Kanye offers diploma courses and it is expected to offer degree courses in the next years. In an interview with Botswana Guardian this week Kanye adventist hospital chief executive Bangwato Sikwa said they were currently being evaluated by the Tertiary Education Council (TEC). Over 200 nurses and doctors will be trained at the institution on a five to seven years plan.

Village Kgosi Oscar Mosielele said the establishment of the institution was a welcome development as they keep experiencing situations where patients die on the way to Kanye and Thamaga for referrals. He said the gesture should also teach village MP Mokgweetsi Masisi a lesson as he has not been bringing developments to his constituency. “If he is trying under the poverty eradication programme, in his constituency there is nothing to give him credit for,” he says. The plight for a hospital dates back from president Sir Ketumile Masire’s time.

That administration failed to keep their promise of building a hospital for the village, said Kgosi Mosielele. As a result villagers are forced to commute between Kanye and Thamaga in search for better medical assistance. Only one doctor is resident in Moshupa and he has to cover the whole sub district. The rest of the doctors come on visits which leaves the clinic without a doctor to take care of critically ill patients.