Namibia Health Risk Solution (NHRS) has made N$600 000 available to Palliative Care Namibia.
Medscheme Namibia managing director Rudy Saunderson says the donation would allow the organisation to provide patients with better care.
“These people did not ask for cancer, but for us to change their lives, to enhance their quality of life. It is really an honour to work with Palliative Care Namibia,” he says.
Saunderson says it is important to create a “dream team” to assist the Cancer Association of Namibia with palliative care.
Speaking on the same platform, the director of Medscheme Namibia and NHRS, Frankie Fredericks, handed over 23 oxygen concerntrators accompanied by medical quality nebulising masks, nasal oxygen cannulas, spare filters and pulse oximeters.
He says this is to support home-based palliative care programmes.
“This programme will offer patients the vital option to remain within their home environment and with their loved ones, avoiding extended periods of hospitalisation,” he says.
Fredericks says palliative care is a compassionate approach that focuses on improving the quality of life for patients facing life-threatening illnesses.
He says palliative care aims to alleviate suffering, manage symptoms, and provide emotional support to both patients and families.
Cancer Association of Namibia chief executive Rolf Hansen says the need for palliative care in Namibia came about with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“During Covid we realised the urgency of palliative care. Our medical aid funds are unstable right now, and it’s because of overtreatment, over-medication and over-hospitalisation. It is not necessary for patients who are terminal, who just need care, to be hospitalised,” Hansen says.
He says this programme will enable policy change, which has already commenced in the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Hansen says although the centre has officially been open, the intake of patients will start by mid-May when the team has been assembled.
Palliative Care Namibia will provide opportunities for University of Namibia School of Medicine first- and third-year students, as well as Windhoek Central Hospital and Oshakati Intermediate Hospital staff to train at the centre.
Hansen says CAN has worked closely with the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital on empowerment and training.
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