Nurses in rural areas need support - Kgosi

Bad attitudes and long clinic queues are just some of the reasons why nurses can get bad rap. But Kgosi Siver Nthomang of Mokhomma, who receives some of these concerns, urged his morafe to consider the challenging conditions under which nurses in rural areas operate before complaining.

Speaking in an interview at his home recently, Kgosi Nthomang said there are a number of obstacles preventing nurses in Mokhomma at least, from providing proper quality service. “We have a problem of accommodation.

We are unable to house them. Earlier this year we had to beg for a house from the Department of Crops to house one of the nurses because the conditions they were living in were very undesirable,” he shared. Mokhomma clinic has only two nurses but serves an estimated population of 2500. And for a long time, Kgosi Nthomang said the two nurses and their families had to share a single two-bed LA2 house.

“Tell me how many people are willing to stay and work with conditions like these everyday without getting angry and uncaring? It is very disheartening. “This is one of the major reasons nurses are not interested in working in rural areas,” he said. Kgosi Nthomang said because of the bad roads, pregnant women have to travel an hour or more to deliver at the mining town of Jwaneng, some 30km or so away.

This results in some women choosing to just stay home and deliver at home, which puts not just themselves but their infants in danger. The 2011-2015 Botswana-Maternity Ratio shows majority of maternal deaths happen in rural areas.

The clinic also suffers from regular shortages of the “most basic” of medical apparatuses. “But the situation has greatly improved in recent times. Our major concerns are just about the rate at which developments reach us. Even just getting the government’s poverty eradication programmes that our people depend highly on to make a living, is a hassle,” he said.