Francistown Academic Hospital (FAH) is a new national referral and teaching hospital located in Francistown, Botswana. It is one of Botswana’s major recent investments in expanding specialist healthcare outside Gaborone.

Overview

• Location: Francistown, North-East District, Botswana
• Type: Public academic / referral hospital
• Role: Tertiary-level teaching and referral hospital
• Status: Developed as part of Botswana’s strategy to decentralize specialist healthcare from Gaborone

Why it is important

Francistown Academic Hospital is designed to:

• Train medical students, interns, and specialist doctors
• Support postgraduate medical education in Botswana
• Reduce pressure on Princess Marina Hospital and Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital in Gaborone
• Serve as a major referral hub for northern Botswana

Expected / key services

As a teaching and referral hospital, it is structured to provide advanced care such as:

• Specialist medical and surgical services
• Intensive care (ICU)
• Advanced diagnostics (radiology, CT/MRI services)
• Emergency and trauma care
• Maternity and neonatal intensive care
• Internal medicine subspecialties
• Pediatric and surgical specialties
• Oncology and chronic disease management (planned/expanding services)

Role in Botswana’s health system

Francistown Academic Hospital sits at the top tier of the northern health system, meaning:

• Clinics → Primary hospitals (e.g., Athlone, Gumare, Gweta)
• District hospitals (e.g., Selebi-Phikwe Hospital)
• Francistown Academic Hospital → highest referral and teaching level in the north

It complements:

• Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital (Gaborone) – southern academic hub
• Princess Marina Hospital – central referral hospital

Context

This hospital is part of Botswana’s broader plan to:

• Expand specialist healthcare access regionally
• Improve medical training capacity locally
• Reduce patient transfers to Gaborone for advanced treatment