The government has not identified which health services will be offered by public hospitals and which will fall under private healthcare.
This comes after the Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare visited the Katutura and Central Hospital in the capital to assess the readiness of public health facilities ahead of the planned policy shift requiring senior government officials to use State hospitals.
While on the ground assessing some newly renovated areas at the two state hospitals, Ngurare indicated that some services would be shared between public and private facilities.
“We do realise that they are complementing a number of things that we cannot provide right away. So, it doesn’t mean that you, who are a public servant, cannot go in some instances to private hospitals. That is not the intention,” he said on Monday.
Responding to follow-up questions of which services would be provided at the two, health spokesperson, Walters Kamaya, said that the government has not yet finalised which services will be allocated to each sector.
The system will instead rely on assessments conducted at public hospitals.
Patients will first be attended to at State facilities, and if the required treatment or specialised service is not available, they will then be referred to private hospitals, he added.
“This is difficult to clarify which of the services would be offered at public and private hospitals. But this would depend on what one would be diagnosed with, and if the job can’t be done at public hospitals, it would mean you’d be referred to a private hospital. But for now, we are yet to identify those as we are still rolling it out,” he said.
He added that the approach is aimed at ensuring patients continue to receive necessary care while the government works to strengthen the capacity of public health institutions.
Meanwhile, Ngurare reiterated that the reforms are not intended to undermine private healthcare providers, but rather to create a complementary relationship between the two systems.
“I must also allay the fears of the private sector, because some think that as we roll out these steps, we are now going to render their businesses dry, for lack of a better word. That is not the intention. We do realise that they are complementing a number of things that we cannot provide right away,” he said.
Photo: Heather Erdmann