No cheer for caregivers at Engela hospital

THIS could be a new year for some but not for caregivers at the Engela District Hospital, whose conditions remain deplorable.

The Engela District Hospital is situated at the border town of Helao Nafidi in Ohangwena. It caters for the Ondobe, Omulonga, Engela, Ohangwena, Oshikango, Endola, Ongenga and Engela constituencies, as well as for Angolans nearby.

Here, people who look after their sick relatives sleep in small tents outside the hospital close to an oshana that overflows with sewage water from the hospital.

There are about 40 small tents pitched near the oshana.

Some of those looking after their relatives told The Namibian during a visit that this is not how life should be in an independent Namibia.

The people explained that they cook in the open, and that when it rains, they go to bed hungry. They also said some of the security guards do not allow them to dry their clothes on the hospital’s fence.

Hambeleni Shipo (30) from Enghandja village in Ohangwena, who is taking care of her mother, sleeps in a tiny tent with her year-and-a-half-old daughter.

An expectant young mother, Lovisa Nghulondo, decided not to stay at the pregnant women’s shelter because it is far and dirty. Meriam Andreas from Onekwaya said they bath under a small thorn tree, because they are not allowed to use hospital facilities.

She further said they go behind a fallen tree or on the other side of the oshana to relieve themselves.

According to Andreas, three men from the nearby cuca shops forced their way into a young woman’s tent at the hospital recently.

“Luckily, we heard them, and one of us ran to tell the security guards,” Andreas said.

Gervatius Hangodi, one of the only two males at the hospital, requested government to look into their plight.

“I know they are able to do something; it’s only that they do not care. At least they should put up a shelter where people can stay, not like this,” Hangodi said.

Ohangwena regional health director John Hango referred The Namibian to health spokesperson Ester Paulus, who could not comment since she is still on leave.

“I will only provide you with comment when I get back to work on the 13th,” she stated.

Engela constituency councillor Jason Ndakunda said the problem is not unique to the Engela hospital, but that most hospitals in the north face similar problems.

Ndakunda said most of the people looking after sick relatives live far from the hospital, and that the lack of hospital personnel is also to blame.

“Sometimes a person can even wet themselves in their blankets, and nurses don’t clean them. Or a patient cannot eat, and the nurses just leave the food there,” he added.

According to Ndakunda, a shelter was once built by the community, but people refused to occupy it because of the N$5 fee per day that was being charged.

He noted that a lack of decentralisation of services in the health ministry is hampering proper decision-making.

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