Shangula confirms new 300-bed hospital for Havana informal settlement

MINISTER of health and social services Kalumbi Shangula has confirmed that a new state hospital will be built at Windhoek’s Havana informal settlement for which healthcare professionals will be recruited.

Shangula says the ministry is currently busy with feasibility studies for the construction of a 300-bed district hospital for the Khomas region.

“Capital projects take time and a lot of processes have to be followed,” he says.

The minister says Windhoek has never had a district hospital, which has led to the Katutura and Central hospitals being overcrowded.

“The delivery of healthcare services would improve, because the two hospitals, Katutura and Central, will be dealing with more sophisticated issues, while the rest can be done at the district hospital,” he says.

This comes after president Hage Geingob on Thursday during his state of the nation address announced that the government would construct a district hospital for the Khomas region.

The president said the construction of the new hospital would commence this year.

“A portion of land has been identified and fenced off, and the process to appoint transaction advisers has commenced. I urge the ministries of health and finance to prioritise resourcing for this feasibility,” Geingob said.

He said the universal health coverage policy, which is currently being developed, aims to ensure all people have access to quality healthcare services without constraint.

“The government spends close to 20% of its budget on the public health system, which serves 80% of the total population,” Geingob said.
He said Namibia’s average per capita public expenditure on health is US$450, which is comparable to other upper-middle income countries.

“Our challenge in this context is that of unequal distribution of resources, where 80% of the population does not have medical insurance and rely on the public health system, thereby increasing pressure on limited public resources,” he said.

‘WE WILL RECRUIT’

Shangula says the health ministry will recruit healthcare professionals for the new hospital.

“We will ensure that this hospital has enough staff. But in terms of procuring medicine and other health equipment, the central procurement board will deal with that,” he says.

BE PATIENT

“The public must be calm and patient while we are busy with the processes. It takes time for one to see visible results, but we will finish it,” he says.

Namibia currently has 1 150 outreach points, 309 healthcare facilities, 34 district hospitals, and four intermediate and referral hospitals, according to the ministry’s website.

The country has five referral hospitals out of 34 district hospitals, including Windhoek Central Hospital, which is regarded as a national referral facility.

The intermediate hospitals are the Katutura, Oshakati, Onandjokwe, and Rundu hospitals.

Over 200 facilities across the country offer private healthcare services.

In addition to five private hospitals in Windhoek, there are also private hospitals at the coastal towns of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, Otjiwarongo and Tsumeb in the north, as well as Ongwediva in north-central Namibia.