By Catherine Sasman WINDHOEK The Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) yesterday recommended that President Hifikepunye Pohamba declare a state of emergency in the administration of the healthcare sector. It called on the government to draft a national emergency plan to reform and improve the public health sector, similar to the improvement plan that was devised for the education and training sector. “The health sector, like the education sector, is an unmitigated disaster,” said LAC Director Norman Tjombe. Added Amon Ngavetene, LAC’s Project Coordinator of the AIDS Law Unit: “The current crisis as seen at the Katutura Hospital boils down to an issue of management and leadership.” The LAC further called for a concrete plan of action to be adopted, which will require the management of the health sector to report to President Pohamba on a monthly basis until such time that the problems at State hospital facilities have been rectified. “The public health services are in an appalling and unbearable state and as civil society [we] cannot sit idle and witness the total collapse of the health sector in the country,” said the LAC. “The current state of affairs is not new and it is unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg. Poor delivery of health services has been ongoing for a long time. The poor and marginalized people have been suffering for a long time now.” After two days without running water at the Katutura Hospital last week and a recent power outage, the Ministry of Health reported that water was restored after damaged water pipes were fixed. The LAC said the situation at State hospitals was deplorable, citing not only the water and electricity crisis that broke out, but also general hygiene, and other matters, that it said are sorely lacking. “The lack of spare parts for power generation, the installing of new electric equipment without considering the existing power capacity, failure to repair theatre beds, are all clear testimonies of lack of proper planning to maintain acceptable levels of service delivery of public health and is contrary to the constitutional obligations [of government].” According to the Namibian Constitution, the State shall ensure consistent planning to raise and maintain an acceptable level of “standard of living of the Namibian people and to improve public health”. “Poor or non-existent maintenance and repair of infrastructure is more a case of pure incompetence than budgetary constraints, not to repair a broken bed or faulty power generator, or not to plan and budget for the replacement of the old and outdated equipment and infrastructure.”