By Kuzeeko Tjitemisa
WINDHOEK- Ten local students will have their studying ambitions boosted easier thanks to the financial support by the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund of Namibia.
The students are the 2014 recipients of the MVA fund and were announced recently. MVA Fund Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Rosalia Martins- Hausiku says the MVA fund proudly reaffirms its commitment to developing emergency medical response capacity. “Emergency response is undoubtedly a developmental challenge,” she says adding that Namibia lacks qualified paramedics to respond to road crashes and other medical emergencies. In mitigating this challenge, the MVA fund approached the Polytechnic of Namibia to set up a Medical Emergency Care Department and to provide bursaries to the suitable candidates to study as paramedics in 2008.
Martins- Hausiku says the collaboration has yielded favourable results, since its establishment and 19 students sent to South Africa for training and has so far graduated and are saving lives. According to her so far 62 students have benefited from the scheme and it has cost N$ 5 million including the ten for the 2014 academic intake. She further says although they did not have recent figures since the MVA Fund’s involvement in Emergency Medical Response Services training, a remarkable difference has been made.
Martins- Hausiku says to date the MVA Fund has produced six ALS Namibia graduates, “a skill that was only possessed by few Namibians”. “The Fund is now able to stabilise patients at scene, because qualified paramedics are dispatched to crash scene,” she says, adding that the fund has also setup four emergency response bases with qualified paramedics where dispatches are conducted from, in any event of an emergency.
She also uses the opportunity to encourage student to utilise this great opportunity to contribute to saving live. “Learning is a life-long journey, study hard and put acquired skill to good use. Be proud, and don’t ever doubt that you are on the right track,” she emphasis. Quoting the Australian Paramedic, Martins- Hausiku says “being a good paramedic means being able to do as much as you possibly can to save a live…and knowing how to accept it, when this is just not enough”.
She further thanks parents of the beneficiaries for raising children to reach this stage in their lives, and for raising them to value and see the importance in education.
The ten students will pursue their studies in Emergency Medical Care at the Polytechnic of Namibia’s EMC Department, to become qualified paramedics. The bursaries are valued at N$ 35 000 per student per year for a period of four years.Upon graduation, the student will be absorbed by the MVA Fund, emergency medical response services providers and the Ministry of Health and Social Services.