ABOUT 20 000 patients have been treated by the state orthopaedic department over the last year, the head of the department, Dr Stanley Kanyemba, said yesterday.
This means that about 60 patients are attended to at the Katutura Intermediate Hospital and the Windhoek Central Hospital every day.
Orthopaedics’ major subspeciality is trauma surgery and arthroplastic surgery, which deal with the replacements of hips, ankles and knees.
The other is paediatric orthopaedics, which deals with problems of children under 16, and oncology which deals with tumours and sepsis.
Kanyemba said there are only five qualified orthopaedic surgeons serving in the two Windhoek state hospitals.
He applauded the government for having set up a medical school that will in the long run take care of this serious shortage of surgeons.
“Generally, there is a shortage of doctors. Imagine the shortage we have at the level of specialisation; it is exponential,” said Kanyemba, who is one of the youngest black orthopaedic surgeons in Namibia. Both hospitals are also overwhelmed with the number of referrals from the regions.
“Generally speaking, we are not enough, and there are not enough centres. Because of that, we carry a large burden of orthopaedic care. We are overrun with patients. We are really taking care of the entire country,” said Kanyemba, adding that Oshakati takes off some of the load.
According to him, patients are referred to private hospitals when the necessary equipment for certain treatments is unavailable at state hospitals, as per government policy.
Being a new department, they also started doing research to find out the types of musculoskeletal problems that are common among Namibians.
“We have a lot of people involved in car accidents coming in on a daily basis. Others have fractured hips, lower limbs, arms and spines.”
Kanyemba said he feels that their functions as orthopaedic surgeons at state facilities are vital to Namibian society, as 90% of the people they treat do not have medical aid.
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