Onandjokwe Intermediate Hospital handles an average of 91 bone and joint injury cases every month. This also includes dislocations and serious trauma injuries that require surgery.
This was revealed on Wednesday when the hospital received a C-arm X-ray machine worth about N$4 million from the Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund to improve trauma and orthopaedic care.
MVA Fund board member Akutu Munyika says the number of cases shows the demand for specialised treatment at the hospital.
“I am reliably informed that every month the hospital manages an average of 91 orthopaedic cases, ranging from fractures and dislocations to complex trauma injuries requiring surgical intervention,” Munyika says.
Munyika says demand for specialised healthcare continues to grow, while the sector faces increasing trauma cases, limited resources and gaps in access to medical technology.
“Despite the significant progress made in strengthening healthcare services across Namibia, the demand for specialised healthcare interventions continues to grow,” he says.
Onandjokwe serves as a referral hospital for the Oshikoto and other northern regions.
The C-arm is a mobile X-ray machine that gives doctors real-time images during operations and other medical procedures.
Munyika says the machine would help doctors perform operations more accurately, make clinical decisions and improve treatment for trauma and orthopaedic patients.
The MVA Fund also provided the hospital with an orthopaedic drill and saw.
“With this new equipment, Onandjokwe hospital raises the level of trauma care that is capable at a state facility,” says Oshikoto regional health director Josua Nghipangelwa.
Nghipangelwa urges doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers to treat patients at Onandjokwe when the hospital has the capacity to do so.
He says reducing patient transfers could help cut costs in the public health system.
“By doing so, we make public healthcare sustainable by reducing patient transfers to other providers when the state is more than able to provide the same level of care,” he says.
Nghipangelwa says the health sector is also under pressure from population growth, changing disease patterns and increasing demand for specialised care.
The donation forms part of the partnership started in December 2007 when the fund and the ministry signed their first agreement.
The MVA Fund initially supported the ministry by providing state ambulances with life-saving equipment before extending its investments to hospitals.
In 2023, the MVA Fund and Standard Bank Namibia invested N$12.6 million in redeveloping the emergency wing at Katutura Intermediate Hospital.
In 2025, the fund donated Namibia’s first Lodox full-body X-ray machine for clinical trauma care to Katutura Intermediate Hospital. The machine was valued at N$13.2 million.
Together with the N$4 million C-arm at Onandjokwe, the three investments amount to about N$29.8 million.
