ONGWEDIVA – The Chief Medical Officer for Oshakati Intermediate Hospital has refuted claims by female patients who said they were turned away by the hospital to buy their own pregnancy diagnostic kits.

Patients were livid saying medical staff told them the hospital did not have the pregnancy diagnostic kits and were apparently told to buy them from private pharmacies before they could be tested.

Patients who spoke to New Era said they were informed by nurses that the hospital did not have stock for pregnancy test kits.
 “We were told that they need to determine whether I am pregnant or not because the applicable medication cannot be prescribed to a pregnant woman as it can result in a miscarriage,” said one patient who refused to give her name.
However, the Chief Medical Officer, Korbinian Vizcaya Amutenya refuted these claims saying he has been told the hospital has stock of the pregnancy test kits.

He said he was aware the hospital has a shortage of other medical provisions but that pregnancy tests are not among them.
“If it is indeed true then I do not understand why patients have to be turned away,” said Amutenya.

In addition to Oshakati, some health professionals in the Kunene Region have also complained that the shortage of medicine and other medical staff is crippling quality health delivery to the ailing community.
New Era recently reported on the shortage of medicine and pharmaceutical supplies resulting in patients sourcing such supplies from private pharmacies.

During an interview on the medical and pharmaceutical shortages the Executive Director in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Ben Nangombe said there was no public tender for the past two years and it was difficult to have a fixed supplier of pharmaceuticals and some of the prescription drugs.

“Therefore, the ordering of medicine is being done on ad-hoc basis and as you know when we order the medicine, we don’t necessarily order directly from the manufacturers,” said Nangombe in a recent interview.