Unam Medical School campus officially opened

GOVERNMENT’S vision of ending a situation where many Namibians lack access to medical doctors, has taken a major step with the new University of Namibia (Unam) School of Medicine.

This was the message from President Hifikepunye Pohamba at the official inauguration of the Unam School of Medicine in Windhoek on Friday. Pohamba said government put in place medium and long term development strategies, which serve as tools ‘to guide our nation’s development process so that it can be undertaken in a systematic manner.’The president said priority areas have been identified and that government has been allocating resources to these sectors in order to realise developmental goals. ‘These include the provision of quality public services such as health care, education, clean drinking water, electricity and other social amenities that can improve the living conditions of our people,’ Pohamba said.Also speaking at the inauguration was Dean of the School of Medicine, Professor Peter N’yarango who said that the new medical school campus will provide Unam with a platform to, not only produce the physicians and pharmacists of tomorrow, but also for public enlightening. N’yarango, who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Unam, said that he hopes that such enlightening would ‘lead to empowering individuals and communities to respond to their health needs in a timely and effective manner.’ The Unam medical school is being developed in five phases. Friday saw the inauguration of part of phase one that is made up of office buildings for academic and administrative staff, laboratories as well as the departments of anatomy and physiology.The president said tenders for phases one and two of the development have already been awarded, and amount to N$311 million. Pohamba emphasised the government’s commitment to the initiative, making reference to the resources which it has made available for the establishment of the medical school.N’yarango said that at present the medical school has 110 students enrolled in its Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programmes and 25 students enrolled in the Bachelor of Pharmacy programme.The medical school currently has a staff of 20 professors, lecturers, technicians and trained managers. The dean of the medical school said that this year Unam will hire more clinical professors, who along with senior specialists from the Ministry of Health and Social Services ‘will assume responsibility for training and clinical instruction.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.

The Namibian uses AI tools to assist with improved quality, accuracy and efficiency, while maintaining editorial oversight and journalistic integrity.