Not too long ago, when former health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula challenged the World Bank report that assessed our State health sector in Namibia as providing poor services, with due respect, the former minister did not use public hospitals.

He does not know how it feels to spend the entire day in a queue at a State hospital to see a doctor. After seeing the doctor and receiving a prescription, there is no medication at the state pharmacy. The patients are then instructed to purchase the medication at private pharmacies. These are unemployed and penniless people.

I worked in hospitals such as Outapi and Okongo districts. I am well-informed and fully support the World Bank report, without any reservations or contradictions.

Credit should be given where it is due, Lady Pohamba Private Hospital. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the exceptional care you’ve provided over the past nine years. Your incredible staff, state–of–the–art facilities, and unwavering commitment to looking after our citizens with such compassion and professionalism make all the difference. Thank you for being a beacon of excellent healthcare in Namibia.

In my opinion, Namibia’s healthcare system needs improvement; it faces numerous challenges, including a high prevalence of communicable diseases. HIV/AIDS is also alive and well.  

However, historically, Namibia has largely achieved its targets primarily through international aid. They really played a crucial role in supporting us. They have funded key areas, including medical research, treatment programs, healthcare infrastructure, and salaries for the workforce.

As a teacher, youth activist, and nurse by profession, I would like to ask the following question: Will the Namibian healthcare system be able to achieve universal health coverage without aid, when, and how?  

Dr Shangula’s impact

Dr Shangula was appointed as the minister of health in 2018 and served as the fifth minister of health. He did well during his tenure in the fight against hepatitis E. He did well, controlled, and overcame Covid-19, even though Namibia lost 3000 lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During his era, he introduced the dialysis programme, making it the first time in the country’s history. Today, Katutura Intermediate Hospital and Oshakati are fully equipped with dialysis equipment.

During the pandemic, Dr Shangula was quoted to have said, if you know any unemployed nurses in Namibia, bring him/her to me, I will give them/a nursing job.

However, after that, during his term in office, hospitals, health centers, and clinics were reported to have severe shortages of nurses, while many nursing graduates roamed the streets, walking half-naked, being of no use to anyone.

He once admitted that, in addition to delayed delivery service, it is due to the growing population.

Here is my humble proposal: “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often”- Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill.

So let us focus more on prevention. It is much more affordable to prevent diseases than to treat them. There is no doubt in my mind that without prevention, our health system will face a significant financial burden.  

We need to rethink and redesign the healthcare system. Let us improve water, sanitation, and hygiene. While I was a TB focal nurse at Outapi District Hospital in 2022, there was an outbreak of Measles in the Omusati region. 

And we all know that outbreaks are costly to manage. Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective health interventions available for preventing infections. They can also prevent some non-communicable diseases, such as HPV. 

The ministry should recruit more community health workers to help with disease prevention. Namibia also needs to integrate the prevention and management of various diseases, such as DM and cardiovascular diseases, into the community health programmes.

All healthcare workers should now be trained to address non-communicable diseases. Let us focus more on prevention! I believe that Namibia can make healthcare accessible, equitable, and financially sustainable with the new Minister of Health, Dr Esperance Luvindao. 

I am not just excited because she is very young or that she is very passionate about health. I am excited because I know she will be able to deliver good results and prove some people wrong who think she is not the right candidate for that position.

We will support her; we will give our proposal as well and make sure we transform our health care system. No dream is too big to be achieved.

*Alfeus Lungameni Hamundja writes in his personal capacity.