Party manifestos: Health sector

THE silly season, or politics of promises, as others know it, has seen different political parties making a myriad of promises to Namibian voters over the past couple of months. With less than five weeks left, The Namibian takes a closer look at what promises the manifestos of various political parties hold for the voter. Several stories will appear over the next couple of weeks taking under the microscope issues such as education, health, housing/water/sanitation, crime/safety, land/agriculture, employment/development, business and economics as well as gender equality.

DEPENDING on which political party will rule Namibia for the next five years, the country could see the establishment of a local drug-manufacturing company, introduction of a health insurance scheme for all, an ambulance for every health centre and even one nurse for every four patients.A closer inspection of some of the manifestos of political parties reveal very vague promises which, in a way, explain the snail’s pace in which the country’s health system has developed over the past years.Many of the opposition parties use their manifestos to criticise the ‘appalling’ state of health facilities, staff shortages and poor staff morale, but hardly provide a clear vision of where they intend to take the country if given five years to rule.The new Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) devotes a sizeable chunk of its manifesto on health, promising to focus on the training of health personnel and equipping facilities with state-of-the-art technology.Under them, State patients who require specialised treatment would be helped by Government and they would also review the public medical scheme.The DTA of Namibia has a grand plan to establish a Namibian-owned drug-manufacturing company in cooperation with foreign pharmaceutical companies while they also intend training auxiliary healthcare workers to ease the load on the professional staff.They also promise to spend more money on upgrading and maintaining clinics and hospitals and to pump more funds into the training of staff.The National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) manifesto targets the appalling state of clinics and health centres, staff shortages and poor staff morale.The party said a Nudo government would declare AIDS a national disaster, widen the roll-out of ARVs, advocate ‘routine’ voluntary counselling and testing, and enable the local production or import of generic drugs for HIV-AIDS patients.In addition, a human resource plan would be introduced to encourage the recruitment and retention of health professionals.Hospitals would operate on a ratio of one nurse to four patients and every health centre would have an ambulance.Nudo also promises to introduce a chronic illness grant, while the criteria for disability grants for people with HIV-AIDS would be reviewed. The South West Africa National Union (Swanu) promises to introduce universal health insurance for all Namibians, if voted into power.Swanu says the health insurance would be funded by the private sector and public sector, but does not explain how.The ruling Swapo Party pledges to devote sufficient resources to the combating of HIV-AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases and to increase communication and construction of hospitals, clinics and health centres.They also promise to equip existing health infrastructure; intensify national immunisation to increase coverage from the current 75 per cent to 80 per cent; reduce the maternity mortality rate; and improve working conditions for doctors, nurses and health personnel in rural areas.The Congress of Democrats spends a big part of its section of health criticising the collapse of system.The party promises to reverse the ‘decline in our health standards and system as our country can only prosper if we address human security. We shall embark on major investment programmes in our health services and personnel’.Reading through the manifestos, what is clear is that almost all parties focused on the same issues – all the issues that are impossible to ignore when thinking about health.What lacks in the manifestos is a breakdown of what the plans of each political party will cost.