By Obakeng Maje

North West-Following a concentrated recruitment drive, three Chief Executive Officers have been appointed to serve three major hospitals in the North West Province. 

Mr Adrain Lourens will service Mahikeng Provincial Hospital while Mr Polaki Mokatsane has been appointed to manage Klerksdorp/Tshepong Hospital Complex.

Ms Gloria Tlhapi has been retained as chief executive of Potchefstroom hospital. 

The hospital was upgraded to a regional hospital.

“The executives have all undergone a compulsory training at the Academy of Health and Leadership Management in Health Care, which the national Department of Health started in November 2012” Health department Tebogo Lekgethwane said. 

“Mr Lourens and Ms Tlhapi commenced their duties on 1 March while Mr. Mokatsane only started on 1 April” said Lekgethwane. 

The CEOs were amongst the 102 new hospital CEOs  announced by Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi in January.

Mafikeng Provincial Hospital CEO, Mr Lourens is aiming to strengthen good practices and address less good practices, to ensure better health outcomes for all clients.

“This is an effort to contribute to the proverbial bigger picture, by ensuring that the people within the catchment area of Mafikeng Provincial Hospital receive good, quality and sustained services that will not only make them more healthy but also to keep them healthy and thus increase life expectancy for all,” said Mr. Lourens about the future of the hospital.

Mr Lourens says he plans to identify and develop the available leaders in order for them to develop their sub-ordinates to the extent that they function optimally within the parameters of the current health system. 

“This will ultimately nurture employee loyalty, improve/increase employee productivity, improve service values, excellence and quality and promote client/patient satisfaction at the highest level” said Tebogo Lekgethwane. 

Mr Lourens holds a National Diploma in Public Health and B Tech in Environmental Health and he held various leadership positions in various public health facilities in Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province.

The appointments followed well-thought out processes and were made in accordance with the law and labour procedures. 

This was after new criteria for hospital chief executives were published in the Government Gazette. 

“CEOs needed to be from healthcare backgrounds and needed at least five years experience in middle and top management of a health institution” said Lekgethwane.

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