Cop, councillor pay for patient’s treatment amid critical drug shortages

Okahandja constituency councillor Bethuel Tjaveondja and police station commander Mathias Tjarimba dipped into their own pockets recently to buy critical medication for a mentally ill man after a shortage at a local state hospital left his family without treatment options.

The intervention highlights the impact of a nationwide shortage of psychiatric medication that the health ministry says is affecting medical centres across Namibia.

Veddersdal pensioner Elizabeth Xam-//Gaoses said she sought help on Saturday after her son, Edwin Xam-//Gaoseb (40), who suffers from a mental illness, became aggressive at home.

Xam-//Gaoses, with assistance from the police, took her son to Okahandja State Hospital, where she was reportedly told the long-acting injectable antipsychotic drug he required was out of stock.

Staff advised her to buy the injection from a private pharmacy, but she said she could not afford to do so.

"The injection costs N$940. I cannot afford that from my pension money," she said.

Relief eventually came not from the healthcare system but from individual intervention, after Tjaveondja, with assistance from Tjarimba, stepped in and personally paid for the injection the family needed.

Tjarimba told Namibian Sun yesterday that the family had contacted the police after the patient became violent and fled his home.

“We apprehended him and took him to the hospital, but medical staff informed us that they had run out of medication for his condition," he said. Tjarimba then alerted the councillor, who acted swiftly by donating money to buy the required medicine.

“We are civil servants. Whenever the state runs out of resources, we have a responsibility to step in and assist where we can,” Tjarimba said.

“It’s very sad to see people suffer like this with their medicine," he added.

He warned that when critical medicines supplies run out, the consequences ripple outward. Untreated patients become a burden on the broader community and, frequently, on law enforcement.

Tired of struggling

Xam-//Gaoses said she is responsible not only for caring for her son but also for three grandchildren aged five, eight and 13.

"There are no days that I can live peacefully," she said.

The stress of caring for a critically ill son has affected her own health, causing persistent high blood pressure.

"My blood pressure has been high for the past three months because of the stress my son gives me. Doctors have tried different medications to bring it down, but it is not helping," she said.

Xam-//Gaoses said she has also struggled to secure long-term treatment for her son, who previously escaped from a psychiatric facility in Windhoek, where he had been admitted.

"I am tired of trying. Every door I knock on does not really help me," she said.

Her situation is not unique. Tjaveondja and Tjarimba's intervention ensured Edwin received his medication, but the underlying shortages remain.

Several families travel from surrounding areas, including Ovitoto, seeking treatment for relatives with mental illness, only to be told there is no stock available.

Health ministry spokesperson Walters Kamaya confirmed the shortages this week.

He said the shortage was not limited to Okahandja State Hospital but was affecting healthcare facilities countrywide.

Kamaya said pharmaceutical supplies were gradually arriving and that the first three batches had already been delivered.

He added that the ministry would continue providing updates as additional supplies were received.