STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER

 

DR B.S.S.DLAMINI

THE COMMISSIONING OF THE RENOVATED RFM HOSPITAL KITCHEN AND THE INTRODUCTION OF THE MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENCES AND PHARMACY ASSISTANT PROGRAMMES AT THE SOUTHERN AFRICA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY (SANU)

 

Your Royal Highnesses

Honourable Minister for Health

Your Excellency Malika James, USA Ambassador to the Kingdom of Swaziland

Chairperson of the National Board of the Church of the Nazarene

Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Swaziland Nazarene Health Institutions

Vice-Chancellor of the Southern Africa Nazarene University

Chief Executive Officer and Management of the RFM Hospital

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and gentlemen

I am honoured and very pleased to have the opportunity to attend this event, the official opening of the renovated Kitchen at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM), and the launch of the Pharmacy Assistant Certificate and Medical Laboratory Science Degree programmes at the Southern Africa Nazarene University.

 

We are immensely grateful to the Government of the United States of America for its support in these projects and, indeed, for many others within the Kingdom of Swaziland.  Since the signing of the Partnership Framework Agreement in 2009, the Kingdom has benefited enormously through the provision of funds from the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of Health/Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Cooperative Agreement. All of these programmes will contribute substantially to health systems strengthening in the Kingdom of Swaziland.  

The funds for the renovation of the RFM Kitchen were provided from PEPFAR through a joint venture project between the Ministry of Health/CDC Cooperative Agreement and the RFM Hospital itself. On the one hand the funds were provided by CDC, while the contract work was undertaken by the Hospital’s maintenance department. The professional supervision was conducted by Sibaya Design Innovations.

The funds allocated to the Project amounted to a little over E1.725 million and, in principle, were provided for health system strengthening, with 370 nursing students as primary beneficiaries, and hospital patients and staff as secondary beneficiaries.

 The support for the Project came at a point where the RFM Kitchen had deteriorated to such an extent that it no longer met the City Council’s standards and, thus, faced imminent closure. Closure of the kitchen would have seriously diminished the effectiveness of the Hospital as it would then have been extremely difficult to provide meals to patients and students from alternative facilities.

I take this opportunity to express our gratitude for this highly beneficial development assistance which came, shall we say, in the nick of time.

 It is also immensely pleasing to be here for the launch of a second project that will be hugely valuable to our public health service. The Southern Africa Nazarene University (SANU), already a very welcome addition to our education provision at tertiary level, has wasted no time in broadening its programme. Today, we are gathered here to launch the Pharmacy Assistant and Laboratory courses.

The Pharmacy Assistant course is a Certificate course and has started off with the enrolment of 25 students, of whom 13 are men and 12 are ladies, all staying off-campus. The components include Basic Sciences, Computer for Health Sciences, and Religious Studies. Thirteen students are receiving sponsorship for their university fees from Management Sciences for Health, supported by PEPFAR, while the rest are funding themselves.

The Laboratory course is the Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science (BSMLS) Programme, and now in its first semester since classes commenced in August 2012. Of the 29 students who have enrolled, 10 are on-campus with 19 off-campus and accommodated in the peri-urban areas of Manzini city. The courses include Basic Sciences, Communication Skills, Computer for Health Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology as well as Religious Studies. Most students will be sponsored by the Swaziland Government Scholarship programme.

It is necessary to ensure that the training at SANU meets national and international standards so that we produce health professionals at the requisite level of competence. In this regard, I am very pleased to note that the students have to register with the Swaziland Dental and Medical Council.

The courses represent a direct response to the priorities of His Majesty’s Government and the outcome of extensive consultations between SANU and Government. The SANU University Senate gave approval for the two programmes to commence in August 2012 and we are very grateful for the innovative spirit shown by SANU in introducing these highly relevant courses.

The two programmes are supported by PEPFAR and the Ministry for Health/CDC Cooperative Agreement. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Government of the United States of America for that support.

It is also rewarding to note, at this time, the completion of two further renovation projects that have a crucially important role within the health sector.

The improvements to the TB Centre will assist greatly as we pursue the goal of universal access to health services in the Kingdom of Swaziland. The location of the Centre in Manzini has proved appropriate, given that it is the industrial and commercial hub of the country and a large centre of population. The assistance of PEPFAR through the University Research Corporation is greatly appreciated as TB remains a major challenge in the health sector.

The second project – the Manzini Blood Safety Centre renovation - will, I am sure, represent a significant encouragement to the people of Swaziland to come forward at every opportunity to offer blood for the many good, often extremely urgent, causes. There can be few pleasures greater than the donation of blood, in the knowledge that this can actually save lives. We do hope that with this improved blood safety service we will be able to collect at least 1800 pints of blood per year, thus meeting the World Health Organisation requirement for the country.

We again extend our deepest gratitude for the allocation of funds from PEPFAR through the Ministry for Health/CDC Cooperative Agreement.

It is now my honour to declare the renovated RFM Kitchen officially opened and the two new academic programmes at SANU officially launched.

 

Thank you.