STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER

DR B.SIBUSISO DLAMINI

AT LAUNCH OF NEW STAFFING AT HEALTH CLINICS AND TOUR OF TEMPORARY OUT-PATIENTS DEPARTMENT

AT MBABANE GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL

FRIDAY 20 NOVEMBER 2015

Honourable Ministers

One of our foremost guiding aspirations is, through a vigorous and committed effort, to take our country's national health services to higher standards and a broader range of medical services. Creating and sustaining has to be, and is, a fundamental objective of His majesty's Government, whether from a productivity or humanitarian perspective.

It is, of course, a challenging ambition, demanding a substantial level of resources and the development of a broad range of skills and standards of proficiency.

Today we are devoting some time to two areas of ongoing changes, each giving rise to improvements that will be of benefit to a huge proportion of our population.

Firstly, we are launching an initiative involving primary health care services across the country. This takes the form of posting nursing sisters to head up each and every health clinic nationwide. This pan-territorial measure, by virtue of the importance of the personal medical attention provided in each clinic, will in itself upgrade the quality of primary health care for all our people. With more experienced personnel heading up each clinic, not only will the standard of service be improved but the leadership skills brought to each staffing group will serve to also upgrade the skills of junior personnel.

This is a highly valuable initiative, and I take the opportunity to congratulate all the nursing sisters for their promotion to the new grade, and wish them well in their respective assignments.

At the same time today, I am being given the opportunity to see what progress is being made in the construction project that will produce the temporary Out-Patients Department (OPD) of this, the Mbabane Government Hospital. All buildings and other facilities require upgrading from time to time. But the existing OPD is nearly 100 years old and it has been showing its age in many increasingly challenging ways, not the least of which are the roof leaks and non-functioning toilets.

Given the flow of out-patients that had reached 400 per day, the deteriorating condition of the existing facilities and the inadequate links with other units, it was not acceptable to continue with the status quo pending completion of the new permanent OPD. A temporary OPD was, therefore, an inescapable necessity and the most satisfactory course of action during construction of the permanent OPD.

I am pleased to see that we are making good progress with the temporary OPD and are in line with a revised estimated completion date of February 2016. And of further benefit in this interim phase will be the ability, from that date, to include a number of important facilities, that are currently housed separately but within the plans for the new permanent building.

We can therefore look forward to a very satisfactory package of OPD services in the temporary building that will serve the community during the building of the new OPD building. I understand that Government is, at this very minute, proceeding through the finalising and signing of the agreement that will see the building financed by our long-standing and exceptionally generous development partners, the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

In that building, and also housed in the temporary building, will be the inclusion of a number of important services currently housed away from the OPD. These will include rehabilitation services such as physiotherapy, occupational and speech therapy, podiatry and the orthopaedic workshop. There will also be an expanded TB Unit and a smooth and effective connection to VCT, Pharmacy and the main hospital itself. There will be adequate ablution facilities, including a child-friendly unit, emergency rooms and offices.

While the temporary facility is in use, the old OPD will be demolished and the new building erected, to house all the facilities of the temporary structure with a similar configuration of services. The temporary OPD is expected to discharge its function until completion of the new building in 2018 and then be allocated for other supporting functions in this large medical facility of our capital city.

Both the temporary structure facility and the new permanent building will offer a substantially improved level of service in the medical areas that I have mentioned, and, at the same time, will require additional human resources with the necessary skills. I am assured that all preparations are in place to have these on the ground by the early part of next year.

May we continue expeditiously with both programmes that are the focus of our attention today, and ensure that we continue to search for, and implement all practical ways to improve the standard of health care across the Kingdom.

Thank you.