The Road Fund Administration handed over an emergency response vehicle worth N$1.3 million to the Motor- Vehicle Accident Fund yesterday to cater for patients from the Zambezi and Kavango regions.
MVA CEO Rosalia Martins-Hausiku said about two months ago, they decided to open a base in Divundu simply because when road crashes happen, people die due to delayed responses.
“The reason why we decided to put an ambulance out there is because of the wide distance covered between the Kavango East and Zambezi regions,” she noted.
She added that the MVA Fund learned that patients from Katima Mulilo are transferred to Rundu for treatment. Zambezi is the region with the lowest road crash statistics, but when crashes occur, people die.
“When we took this decision of an ambulance, we didn’t have all the resources. We had the land, and decided to set up a container base. We approached the RFA to assist us, based on the budget we had, and then they came on board,” she said.
Martins-Hausiku continued that because of the terrain, they wanted a 4x4, and they are happy that the RFA came on board and made the dream possible.
“I would like to thank the RFA for this kind contribution, and it would go a long way. The base has been in operation. The dedicated response vehicle allows the medic to get to the scene on time. However, they cannot transport patients. They rely on the ministry of health to come with a vehicle and pick up patients,” she noted.
Speaking at the handover, RFA CEO Ali Ipinge expressed excitement to partner with the MVA to bring services closer to the people in rural areas.
“Our primary mandate is to ensure that we have an efficient and working roads and transport sector in Namibia. We have to ensure that there’s adequate funding to maintain our roads infrastructure, but that’s not enough to support citizens and road users,” he said.
They thus took it up as their corporate social responsibility to partner with the MVA to deliver an ambulance for the purpose of helping citizens in the regions. “We look forward to ensuring that this road asset is put to good use,” he observed.