Okahao
The lack of accommodation facilities for staff and patients, as well as crumbling infrastructure at the Okahao District hospital, are some of the reasons that may have prompted 11 nurses and one doctor to resign from their posts this year.
The details surrounding this sorry situation emerged during a familiarisation visit by the Omusati Regional Governor, Erginus Endjala to the Okahao District Hospital at the town of Okahao in the Omusati recently.
The governor visited the hospital to familiarise himself with the situation after receiving numerous requests to look into the state of the hospital and to confirm recent media reports that have shone light on the situation at the hospital.
According to Dr Mary Namundjebo, a member of the Hospital Advisory Committee, the nurses and a doctor who resigned from their posts cited deplorable working conditions, which include an unhygienic work environment, lack of proper accommodation, and dilapidated infrastructure at the hospital, as some of the reasons that led to their resignations.
Their departures have left the hospital with a critical staff shortage.
She says the lack of patient consulting rooms forces two doctors to use one small room, with only one interpreter when attending to patients – a situation that compromises the confidentiality of patients.
“It is also not normal that only one doctor is conducting all autopsies at a big hospital like this, which receives 14 to 25 corpses per month,” she said.
The lack of offices and other much-needed facilities is worsened by the sudden departure of a contractor, who had been tasked with renovation works at the hospital.
A total amount of N$27 million had been set aside for the renovations, but the contract was allegedly terminated, because the contractor failed to adhere to the specifications of the building plans.
Due to the lack of basic infrastructure at the hospital, patients have to be transported about 17 km to the nearby Indira Gandhi Clinic to access facilities such as X-ray machines.
During his inspection of the hospital, the governor, lashed out at the regional health managers for failing to address even minor problems at the hospital. There is, for example, only one domestic-sized stove and it can take up to four hours to prepare the simplest of meals, such as breakfast, for over 70 patients.
“It is unacceptable that 25 years after independence the hospital still sends its laundry to Oshakati. It shows that someone somewhere is not doing their job and I will not leave any stone unturned to get to the bottom of this,” Endjala said.
The governor intends to summon the Regional Health Directorate and the Omusati Regional Council leadership to an urgent meeting on Monday to discuss the situation.
The Okahao District hospital was built in 1984 and most of its structures are in a state of disrepair, posing a significant risk to patients and staff.
* Lot Shikongo is an Information Officer within the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in the Omusati Region.