Disabled lives cut short

Namibia's impoverished disabled people often die before their time because of a lack of proper equipment such as medical beds.This is according to the deputy minister of disability affairs, Alexia Manombe-Ncube, who said because of the challenges the disabled face, her office remains inundated with daily requests, especially for wheelchairs. “We have people sleeping on floors, especially in the rural areas. Some have to find an alternative for a bed, but these beds are not suitable for their conditions. Many people have perished because of bedsores and their environment, which is not conducive to their conditions,” she said. Manombe-Ncube said this on the sidelines of the handover of ten medical beds by the Ohorongo Otavi Community Trust (OOCT) and the health ministry to the disability affairs office.The medical beds, with mattresses worth N$90 000, will be distributed through the office to bedridden people, especially those with spinal injuries.Manombe-Ncube said these beds would become the property of the beneficiaries.Ohorongo Cement spokesperson Esther Mbathera said the donation was a response to pleas from Manombe-Ncube for assistance. She added that the OOCT and the health ministry had a technical agreement with an overseas company to source medical equipment and for skills and knowledge transfers from German-based doctors. Through this agreement, 27 beds were acquired but the health ministry realised they would not be appropriate for certain wards in its hospitals.“Then I proposed to her (Manombe-Ncube) that we could donate some of these beds to the disability affairs office. So we decided to give them ten beds.”Deputy health minister Juliet Kavetuna said the remaining 17 beds would be distributed to the ministry's facilities, including old-age homes and some children's wards in state hospitals. “They can also be given to individual people who need it to improve their standard of living and to prevent bedsores and not to aggravate their situation,” she said. JEMIMA BEUKES

Disabled lives cut short

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-26

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Disabled lives cut short

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-26

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