MORE than two years after the maternity ward at the Windhoek Central Hospital was closed for renovations, the facility still has not reopened.
Health Minister Richard Kamwi had said that the refurbished maternity ward would reopen in July or August last year.The closed ward has reportedly caused overcrowding in other wards.Mothers and their newborn babies are being housed on the ninth floor of the hospital’s main building.When The Namibian visited the hospital last week, relatives of patients on some floors were seen sleeping on mattresses on bathroom floors.According to one mother, they sleep on the floor because that is the only place where the hospitals can accommodate them.Moreover, paediatric equipment was seen locked in a storeroom in the hospital. According to people in the know, this equipment, including incubators, has been gathering dust in the storeroom for over two years.During another visit to the hospital yesterday, the windows of the storeroom were covered with blue plastic.In the old maternity ward, building material was seen lying around and foreign construction workers were painting the walls.Dr Sarah Shalongo, senior medical superintendent of the hospital, last week said that the maternity ward would reopen next month. She could not give an exact date or give a reason for the delay.When New Era approached Kamwi for comment in June last year, he said the Katutura State and Central State hospitals experienced overcrowding any time of the year, especially if there is an epidemic outbreak or referrals from regional State hospitals.’We have mattresses for emergencies because you can’t send patients away. You have to improvise,’ he said, adding that when hospitals in the regions are full, patients are automatically sent to Windhoek.He said some of the causes of overcrowding are patients insisting on being seen by doctors in hospitals even though nurses at clinics and health centres can attend to their cases.Kamwi then said renovations at the Windhoek Central Hospital maternity ward should have been completed by November 2010 already but there were issues that still needed to be sorted out. He then claimed that he expected the state-of-the-art maternity ward to be opened by July or August 2011. N$40 million was allocated in the national budget for renovations at the Windhoek Central Hospital in the current financial year. Last year, N$18 million was budgeted.In terms of the national budget, the total cost of renovations at this hospital is expected to amount to more than N$202 million.No breakdown of the renovation costs is given in the budget.Shalongo said some of the stored equipment was meant for the revamped maternity ward. ‘Those are things for the renovated maternity ward. It’s where we store our things.’She could not say how much the equipment was valued at.Shalongo said she was not aware of patients or relatives sleeping on mattresses on the floor. ‘I haven’t seem them.’She equally denied that the hospital was overcrowded.The Namibian was unable to get comment from Kahijoro Kahuure, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, before going to press yesterday. The Ministry of Health and Social Services came under fire recently after at least three babies and two mothers died in the maternity wards of the two State hospitals in the capital.The Health Professions Council is investigating whether there was professional negligence in these cases.
