Living with a wound that will not heal
For the past 18 years, Maata Valombola (45) says he has been living with the consequences of a gunshot wound that has left him with permanent injuries and shattered his independence.
He says he was confronted by an unknown man with a firearm, who shot him in the abdomen in 2007.
The suspect was never caught, he says.
“I don’t know who shot me. There was no one to help.”
He claims the ordeal was worsened by a doctor at Katutura Intermediate Hospital, who operated on him while intoxicated, leaving him with long-term complications.
“I could smell the doctor had alcohol, but I was more focused on getting well. Soon after my surgery I could feel a hard object in my abdomen. I immediately knew something was wrong,” Valombola says.
Soon after his operation, Valombola says medical staff realised the operation did not go according to plan, and he had to undergo another procedure to remove a forgotten object.
He says he does not know what the object was, since the hospital staff had shown it to him while he was still drowsy from being under anaesthetics.
Valombola, a father of three, says this procedure could, however, not repair the damage and instead left him with an open wound so big that he struggles with everyday activities.
“I cannot stand for long, I cannot walk long distances, I cannot work, because the wound is painful. It affects my back too and I cannot stand up straight any more.”
Valombola says during the incident, the bullet exited through his back.
He relies on government support, which is not enough to sustain him and his children, he says.
“I get a disability grant of N$1 600, which I am grateful for, but it is not enough to sustain myself and my family.”
The physical impact of the injury has affected his personal life, he says.
“It’s not any woman who can take me. Only those with an understanding heart, because it’s not easy to be sexual with my wound,” he says.
“If I just lift my T-shirt, women run. I am suffering.”
‘TOO LATE TO SUE’
Valombola says because the incident happened in 2007, it is too late to sue the Ministry of Health and Social Services again after previously failing to successfully do so.
“I truly wish I had taken legal action more seriously, although I tried to demand my medical records, but they refused to give it to me at some point. My only focus at the time was on healing,” he says.
Before the shooting, Valombola says he was active and able to work, but the injury has left him largely immobile.
The trauma has also made him distrustful of local medical practitioners, he says.
“I’m hoping for an operation by a foreign doctor to close up this wound that I have lived with for so many years, because I cannot trust local doctors any more,” he says.
“I could not sue the ministry, so surgery is my only hope.”
MATTER CLOSED
The Ministry of Health and Social Services has rejected claims of medical negligence in Valombola’s case.
In a letter dated 22 August 2025, executive director of health and social services Penda Ithindi says the Health Professions Council of Namibia (HPCNA) had conducted a formal investigation into Valombola’s complaint.
“The preliminary investigation committee found no evidence of unprofessional conduct by the doctors involved and, on that basis, recommended that the matter be closed,” Ithindi writes, adding that the decision was upheld by the council on 24 March 2018.
The ministry reiterated its position in a follow-up response on 18 February this year, saying despite an extensive search, surgical records from 2007 could not be located.
“While we acknowledge your frustration regarding the missing 2007 surgical notes, please be advised that the absence of these specific documents does not constitute proof of medical negligence,” the ministry says.
It says a separate patient file confirms that Valombola was admitted in September 2008, with a colostomy bag following a gunshot wound, and that his condition was improving at the time.
It says the HPCNA had already concluded its investigation in April 2018, finding no evidence of unprofessional conduct.
As a result, the ministry says it could not grant the compensation Valombola had requested, which includes housing and a vehicle, as “public resources are administered in accordance with applicable laws and procedures”.
Despite this, the ministry says it remains committed to his care.
‘COMMON COMPLICATIONS’
According to the letter written in February, Valombola is currently being treated for an incisional hernia and a chronic non-healing wound, conditions described as common complications of severe abdominal trauma and surgery.
His treatment plan includes daily wound care at a local clinic, bi-weekly follow-ups at Katutura Intermediate Hospital, and possible surgery once the wound has healed.
The ministry has also encouraged Valombola to seek psychosocial support.
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