Dr Kalumbi Shangula, executive director Ben Nangombe and your entire team in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, you did well during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

You also did well in the fight against HIV/AIDS. However, more needs to be done by all of us together as Namibians.

Last year, Cabinet urged your ministry to spearhead the development of a universal health coverage (UHC) framework.

Honourable minister, there is no doubt that our healthcare system is faced with many challenges that we need to address together as a nation, such as infrastructure issues, shortages of medical equipment, shortages of nurses, a lack of specialists or other health professionals as well as diseases, including malaria, diabetes mellitus, hyperparathyroidism and malnutrition.

According to the scoring criteria put in place by the World Health Organisation, Namibia did not reach 80% yet in terms of achieving UHC. 

Dr Shangula, I am very aware of the N$16 billion the government has allocated to your ministry to implement various interventions.

Honourable minister, we want to see implementation – not only things on paper or nice speeches. 

Dr Emma Lebo once told us in a workshop in Windhoek that when your country is experiencing outbreaks such as measles, it means you are not doing well in your expanded programme on immunisation.  We all know that outbreaks are expensive to manage.

So, I would want you, my minister, to please do something regarding the unemployed nurses in Namibia.  There are many of us, yet some health facilities that I visited across Namibia are reporting that they are short-staffed.  It cannot be correct that there is no money to recruit nurses when there is a shortage.  The unemployed nurses are not only losing skills they acquired, but they are also going through psychological problems when they look for jobs. 

In my case, I became unemployed after my United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) contract as an expanded immunisation programme support officer came to an end in August last year. 

To date, I have never secured a job.  During the pandemic, you were very vocal that if there is any unemployed nurse, we must let you know so you can give him or her a job. 

It is very fair at this point to make the same call as soon as possible. Statistics should guide us.  This country’s population stands at three million people. 

If you look at the second most populous region in Namibia, Ohangwena, no hospitals are being expanded or built.

This is questionable.

Let us all sit around the fire, and bring solutions together. 

We can no longer continue blaming everything due to the population increase.  There were times we used to blame Covid-19, but now that it is not present, we are blaming population growth.

It is not right.

In most of the interviews I went to, there were always more than 100 unemployed nurses competing like bulls in Omaheke region.  Recently, at St. Mary’s Odibo, more than 100 people were competing for one post. 

In March, in Windhoek, we had more than 300 competitors for only six public health care positions. In November last year, at Onandjokwe Hospital, we had 530 people competing for only six positions.  It gets worse each year. 

Nursing candidates are graduating, but they are not being employed.  Dr Shangula, with the power vested in you, as a minister, I encourage you to do something. 

Action speaks louder than words. I know you can bring the needed change.

We will thank you.

As a 28-year-old unemployed nurse, I look forward to the day that Namibia will be able to have a proper, equitable healthcare service for all its citizens. 

The provision of quality health and social care services to all can only be achieved if there are enough qualified workers, uninterrupted supplies of medicines and clinical supplies, well-constructed and maintained health facilities, a good information system, sufficient health financing, and good policies and guidelines.

I hope and pray all nurses secure jobs, and serve our nation with great respect and dignity, guided by our oath. 

Honourable Shangula, I encourage you to take time to read my articles about health, published by New Era and The Namibian, as of January 2023.

Long live, honourable doctor Kalumbi Shangula. 

Namibians’ health is in your good hands.

Long live Namibia, a child of international solidarity, midwifed by the United Nations.

*Alfeus Lungameni Hamundja works in the health sector.