Private health facilities not better than public ones - claim

The Coordinator of Greater Francistown District Health Management Team (DHMT), Ivan Kgetse has come to the defence of public health facilities saying they are not failing as perceived.In his quest to disabuse Batswana of the perception that private hospitals offer better health care service compared to public health facilities, he explained that private institutions usually deal with smaller groups of people, while government hospitals and clinics attend to many people daily.“It is just commodity of scale, the number of those who go to private health facilities is not the same as those who go to public ones. What it means is that the average monthly consumption of drugs is different for the two.“It’s a simple analogy to say if someone is to serve a thousand people and another ten, they cannot be measured the same,” he said.Kgetse said because of Covid 19, they now work closely together with private health facilities. “There was a time you could not be admitted in private hospitals and we were sharing commodities.“We are now working together as one team such that if a private facility does not have a drug commodity, we loan it to them. If the reverse happens, they also loan it to us. We are now operating with one basket,” Kgetse said.He said given the challenges they are facing, one health approach is needed saying at the end of the day, they assist the same clients. “This is to say, the situation is not only dire in public facilities, private facilities are also in the same situation. I know this because they all report to me as DHMT coordinator,” he said.He advised Batswana that instead of bashing public facilities because of one unpleasant experience at a certain facility, they should hold those in charge accountable.Unfortunately, for most Batswana, instead of voicing out their displeasure, they move to other facilities and crowd there hence the problem is never resolved but instead a crisis is created.

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Private health facilities not better than public ones - claim