The newly constructed 16-bed Kidney Dialysis Unit at Katutura State Hospital will be operational next month.

The hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr Nelago Amagulu said the unit which was initially designed to cater to Covid-19 patients during the pandemic now boasts four dialysis machines and 12 more have been ordered.

“The infrastructure is in place; the equipment have arrived in the country. It is just installation and testing that have to be done. We are hoping that the activity can be done in October so that if everything is done and we are clear, hopefully, we will kick off in November. If there are technical challenges, it might be later,” said Amagulu.

She made the revelation during a visit by members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Social Development, and Family Affairs.

Amagulu said that every room in the unit has been constructed with an oxygen point, ventilation systems, and Wi-Fi access. 

“From now on, it is going to be the dialysis unit. With the renovations we are doing, we put patients in the other two blocks for now while we renovate the floor. Once that floor is done, the patients will go back and the next floor’s patients come here and we renovate that floor. We will continue to do that until all the floors are done,” she said.

She stressed that there is a need for the approval of the unit’s proposed structure.

“This is so that we are not depleting staff from an already staff-challenged hospital. We have not filled our staff complement for the main hospital and that is a budgetary issue,” Amagulu said.

Meanwhile, the members of parliament expressed their gratitude to the staff at the Katutura State Hospital for the cleanliness of the maternity ward.

The committee was spearheaded by its chairperson, Swapo member Gotthard Kasuto, Landless People’s Movement parliamentarian Henny Seibeb, and Popular Democratic Movement parliamentarian Winnie Moongo.  Amagulu noted that the 96-bed unit formed part of the Covid-19 isolation unit. - Nampa