2018-02-12Staff Report 2 Nuusita Ashipala Oshakati-A new operating theatre at the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital maternity ward will reduce complications for both delivering mothers and their unborn children. Until last Wednesday afternoon, delivering mothers requiring obstetric surgery were rushed to the hospital’s main theatre as there was no operating theatre within the maternity ward. The ward delivers between 27 and 33 babies daily. “They (mothers) will be very near now unlike when they had to go to the main theatre,” said Chief Medical Officer Korbinian Vizcaya Amutenya. Amutenya made the remarks at a press briefing that saw the first patient undergo obstetric surgery at the theatre. Although the rooms have been in existence since construction of the maternity ward was completed in 2013, they did not meet the requirements of an operating theatre and were used as normal delivery rooms. “They could not be used due to technical issues because they were first designed as delivery rooms and not as operating theatres,” explained Amutenya. The renovations of the theatre rooms commenced last year however could not be completed as scheduled by August, due to varying delays. The renovations cost N$3 million, and the theatre now has two operating tables. Amutenya said the theatre at the maternity ward would reduce the number of people expected to undergo operations as obstetric cases took up most of the space at the main theatre. In addition, Amutenya, said it would also lessen the number of people on the waiting list as obstetric cases would be handled at the maternity ward as they would no longer be referred to the main theatre. Currently, the main theatre is fully booked until August. Apart from the just renovated theatre, the ministry of health is in the process of improving the facilities at Oshakati Intermediate Hospital, as they are now old. The main theatre and the Intensive Care Unit are also expected to be demolished so that new structures can be put up. “Because of the financial difficulties not everything could go on as planned, we had to prioritise on things that are more patient-related and acutely needed,” said Amutenya. 2018-02-12Staff Report 2
