- Expansion project cost P25m
- Bokamoso has Botswana’s biggest CT scan
- Facilities for nuclear medicine installed
- 44 new beds added
Walt noted that the expansion project began in 2019 when the hospital started running out of capacity. “This project was to upgrade the hospital so we may house more patients,” Walt told journalists in a press conference that included a tour of the hospital recently.
“Currently we have capacity to house 179 patients,” he said, adding that P13 million was channelled into the upgrading and expansion of the facility “to renovate inside and do all services around”. The equipment budget was P12 million which includes beds, computers and other necessities. “We spent P25 million on this expansion project,” the CEO said.
The project also entailed addition of 44 new beds and installation of a new CT scan which the hospital management described as a modality of choice, especially when it comes to COVID-19 and other diseases that require scanning. “You are usually not prepared for a pandemic,” Walt said, adding that going forward Bokamoso now has processes to deal with COVID-19 and other pandemics.
The head of radiology department, Willy Babusi, expressed delight that Bokamoso has a new CT scan that is “by far the biggest” in Botswana. “We are basically talking about the speed and the number of images it can cut or scan in a second,” Babusi said. “What it means is that the machine can take 160 images (per second) as opposed to the current one we have which takes 60.”
He added that Bokamoso is outward looking in that it considered the country’s needs because CT scanning has been a struggle in Botswana for a long time. “Patients who have been struggling to fit into the (smaller) CT scanners elsewhere will now be able to fit in here,” Babusi noted.
He disclosed that the radiology department also saw installation facilities geared for provision of nuclear medicine, an area in which Bokamoso has been specialising for the past four years. said Babusi, the services include use of radioactive materials to treat illnesses like thyroid cancer. The hospital provides other specialised services such as orthopaedics, cardic and cardiothoracic care, fibroid embolisation, neurosurgery, oncology, and haematology.
Bokamoso started its operations in 2010 as a joint venture between the Botswana Public Officers’ Medical Aid Scheme (BPOMAS) and Pula Medical Aid Fund. However, the joint venture did not work out as the hospital went into sequestration in 2011 before Lenmed Health Ltd partnered with BPOMAS and continued. Lenmed is a prominent South Africa-based hospital group with 10 hospitals, two private hospitals in Botswana and Mozambique.
