Minister Must Apologise

MINISTER of Health and Social Services Richard Kamwi at first pronounced nurses and doctors involved in the recent death case of a pregnant woman and her child in Katutura State Hospital as negligent and reportedly gave directives to the permanent secretary to suspend the culprits.

Surprisingly, during the recent media briefing, he made a big U-turn, disowning all what he said earlier and now telling the nation not to call midwives ‘killers’ and to trust the services of state hospitals.
He seems to have lost it all as he was the first to criticise nurses harshly. Now he calls them ambassadors of his ministry. He does not acknowledge the work nurses do and neither wants to listen to their concerns, such as lack of advanced training in special units like maternity, shortage of staff, lack of motivation, poor working conditions, lack of proper incentives, including salaries, among others.
He needs to seriously look at his ministry through consultative meetings with nurses leaders/managers, nurses, and all other health care workers in order to address the problem as a team.
In conclusion, I strongly believe our Minister should engage in discussion with all stakeholders, listen and act according to demands that will lead to improved service delivery.
But the best start will be for him to publicly apologise to his staff, especially nurses, in the the hospitals.

Mr T
Swakopmund

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