The Ministry of Health, in partnership with the American Embassy (USAID) on Thursday held a two-day workshop on Leadership Development (LDP) and Quality Assurance (QA) Results Dissemination, aimed at striving for excellence in the delivery of quality health care at the Gaborone International Convention Centre.
Giving the key note address, the Minister of Health, John Seakgosing, said Botswana is like any other African country facing challenges on service delivery. These include quality care, timely delivery of services, working conditions and low morale.
The purpose of the fair was for the pilot facilitators to share their experiences and learn from the Leadership Development Program and Quality Assurance tools as a way of raising performance standards in the delivery of health services.
“The Governments of Botswana and The United States of America’s good partnership is a result of the success of this project” said Seakgosing.
The program ties well with the Ministry’s Vision of “Excellence in the provision of customer focused services” as well as the national and international health goals and objectives.
“I want to acknowledge the strength of the programme in that the Quality Assurance process gets the facilities through an assessment which identifies the organizations strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, such that the Leadership Development Programme is customized to address the identified performance gaps,” said Setlalekgosi.
The Ministry of Health has in the process of executing this project, embarked on an accreditation process, to which LDP and QA has become critical inputs. This accreditation process will be done gradually until all the Health facilities are accredited with the Council of Health Services Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA) in an attempt to elevating them to a level of international recognition.
The Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Ms Ontlametse Mokopakgoosi gave an overview of the projects on Quality Assurance and Leadership Development Results. Participants at the workshop included Mahalapye Hospital, Scottish Livingstone Hospital, Xhosa Clinic, Airstrip Clinic, Phuthadikobo, Bontleng and Nkoyaphiri Clinics. BOTUSA was represented by Monica Smith.
