Ongwediva
Ongwediva Medipark Managing Director Dr Tshali Iithete says more patients have signed on the private hospital’s kidney transplant list, of whom three will be operated on as from April.
Iithete was speaking during the press conference held on the historic first kidney transplant conducted on Namibian soil.
Benhard Maswahu, 59, who is employed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry became the first person to receive an organ transplant in Namibia.
Both Maswahu and his 20-year-old son, who is the donor, are in a stable condition and are expected to be discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) soon, according to Iithete.
The operation was carried out by a team of medical professors and professionals from Donald Gordon Medical Centre in South Africa, led by Prof Russel Britz, together with a group of local surgeons from Medipark and Onandjokwe Hospital.
The Minister of Health and Social Services Dr Bernard Haufiku, who was present at the press conference, said what Medipark has achieved is not only a fulfilment of a dream for the Ongwediva-based private hospital or for the Maswahu family, but for Namibia at large and neighbouring countries, including Angola.
Currently a large number of Namibians are on the list to get dialysis treatment but the country has limited dialysis units. Medipark alone treats close to 40 dialysis patients. The patients receive dialysis treatment two to three times a week, and some of them travel from as far as Opuwo. Medipark is the only health facility in the north that currently offers dialysis services.
This is however soon to be a thing of the past as government will soon establish dialysis units at Oshakati, Rundu and Katima, among others – according to Haufiku.
Haufiku said the ministry is ready to assist Medipark in all possible aspects in ensuring the establishment of the kidney transplant unit is a success.
“My brother Tshali (Iithete) said it best – that there is only one health system, there is no need for competition. What we need to do is to make sure that what Medipark has come up with is supported. After all, the ministry has a memorandum of understanding with Medipark – they already used to help us with a CT scanner,” said Haufiku.
Haufiku acknowledged that for a long time Namibia has depended on South Africa’s Cape provinces for major medical services, including surgeries and infrastructures.
“We did not invest much, and I have to acknowledge that it was up at (political) leadership level where we failed to see that we needed something of our own. This problem is just not in the health sector, but in all other sectors. We export raw diamonds and we have failed in value addition, even when it comes to beef.
“Now that Medipark has come up with this, we see the light, we have hope,” he said.
Haufiku further urged Namibians to open up to organ transplant, maintaining that one can lead a healthy and productive life after an organ transplant.
He said that “now there is an option of having a kidney transplant locally, with family and moral support.” Possibly the cost would also improve, unlike when one has to travel to Cape Town, he added.
He however urged the public to take preventative measures such as engaging in physical activities, avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol intake, and eating healthily, among others, to prevent diseases that lead to kidney failure.
Though statistics of the number of Namibians in need of a kidney transplant are unavailable, South Africa has 15 000 people whose kidney problems cannot be treated through a transplant, because of a lack of organ donors. Dialysis treatment for a kidney patient costs N$100 000 a year in South Africa, which could be the same in Namibia.