RUNDU – With a population of more than 100 000, the town of Rundu is in dire need of a district hospital, National Council vice chairperson Victoria Kauma has said.
Kauma is also the Rundu Urban constituency councillor.
Currently, the town only has an intermediate hospital, which is overwhelmed with district hospital functions, affecting quality service delivery, Kauma said.
Due to high demand and lack of space, a makeshift structure has been erected outside the hospital where patients are screened before being referred to doctors or nurses.
The situation has exposed patients to harsh weather conditions.
Patients have also complained to this publication about the intrusion of their privacy, particularly during the screenings, as it is an open structure.
“The population of Rundu is currently at 118 625; therefore, comrade minister, I will be very happy if Rundu can have a district hospital, because currently we only have one hospital in the town, which is a referral hospital, catering to inhabitants of the two Kavango regions and the Zambezi region,’’ Kauma said recently during the commemoration of World Aids Day held in Rundu.
The hospital also caters to the Angolan community living in the southern part of Angola and mostly those living near or along the Kavango River.
“The population is too much that needs healthcare; we need the district hospital so that our people are catered for. I also want to see some of the small clinics being improved to health centres so that they can offer better services, not only running to Rundu intermediate hospital,” she said.
Rundu has five clinics, namely Nkarapamwe, Ndama, Rundu, Sauyemwa, and Kaisosi clinics, that also refer patients to the overwhelmed intermediate hospital.
“We are overwhelmed; in the absence of a district hospital, we only have an intermediate hospital that covers all functions, including primary healthcare,” said one senior staff member who preferred anonymity.
Earlier this year, the Kavango East governor, Bonifatius Wakudumo, during the commemoration of World Health Day at Rundu, told health minister Kalumbi Shangula that there is a serious need for a district hospital and the need to increase health facilities in the region. Wakudumo at that time stressed that the issue of space at the region’s healthcare facilities is a huge challenge with which the region is battling because of the rise in population size, and this affects the region. “We should bear in mind that our health facilities in the region also cater to our brothers and sisters of southern Angola. Rundu Intermediate Hospital, with a bed capacity of 420, remains the only referral hospital serving the northeastern parts of the country. It caters to three regional district hospitals, and it is the only referral hospital in Rundu without a supporting district hospital,’’ he noted.
“Therefore, we are advocating for the development of a stand-alone, fully fledged Rundu intermediate hospital on new land, which will allow more space for all services to be catered to all referring district hospitals. This will allow the current hospital to serve as a district hospital, and it will lessen the burden on Rundu Intermediate Hospital,” he said.
The governor also urged the works ministry to consider developing roads in rural Kavango East, which has many inhabitants living in areas with no single road and struggling to reach many services, including health care.
Hospital superintendent, Dr Jean Kalala Kabangu, was present during an official visit by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Social Welfare at the hospital earlier this year.
He informed parliamentarians that the main issue was that the former Rundu district hospital, which was recently given the status of an intermediate hospital, was suffering in silence as the status change did not come with an upgraded staff complement structure to cater to the new functions. Although the staff structure may seem filled, it does not meet the demand, he said at the time.
The hospital recently employed about 11 medical doctors.
-jmuyamba@nepc.com.na