Health takes one more breath

JEMIMA BEUKES WINDHOEKThe health ministry has reached out to Afrox Namibia for increased oxygen supplies to nurse the ailing situation in the country.This after Intaka Technology Namibia, owned by controversial businessman Knowledge Katti, experienced capacity problems.According to health ministry executive director Ben Nangombe, they have a long-standing agreement with Afrox and other oxygen suppliers. “We have increased admissions and there is increased demand. The gas generating systems have capacity to produce a certain litre of oxygen per minute. With the increased admissions, we are drawing more than the infrastructure can produce. So, we needed to supplement that. We also have a gas bank and we replenish it in order to supplement, but there are certain parts which are not linked to the existing infrastructure and are supplied with gas bottles,” he said. ‘Gas chambers’Meanwhile, a source within the ministry said the situation at the respiratory unit is worrisome, with more people dying there than leaving it alive.The source said the ministry only has trainee staff in the unit, with the exception of one senior doctor.“These doctors are from Russia, Ukraine and China and they don’t know what to do. When people go in there, you can be sure they will leave in a body bag. It is so sad, sometimes you speak to a person who is in good spirits and then you hear they have died minutes later. In one night, we have had more than five people dying - people who were not critically ill,” the source said.According to them, the respiratory unit has now been dubbed the ‘gas chambers’ because people die without proper explanation.“It is not an oxygen problem, but the lack of case management because the staff are overworked or inexperienced. There is also a feeling that the trainee doctors do not know how to handle these ventilators properly and damage the patients. We have 20 people on ventilators on a given day,” the source said. Healthcare workers burnt outHead of the ministry’s Covid-19 programme Petronella Masabane said the Katutura Intermediate Hospital’s respiratory unit is one of Namibia’s referral respiratory units and currently has a bed capacity of 74.According to her, the unit is run by qualified, registered and experienced nurses and medical officers who are not trainee doctors with specialist supervision.“The notion that these doctors do not know how to manage severely or critically ill patients is wrong. The current epidemiological trajectory has illustrated that more and more people who are infected with Covid-19 are getting seriously ill, being hospitalised on oxygen therapy and even being mechanically ventilated. The increase in positive Covid-19 cases, and specifically hospitalisations, has exerted a considerable amount of pressure on our health systems.She said the unit remains understaffed and that medical personnel have been working longer hours to make sure patients receive appropriate care. This, in turn, has left many healthcare workers burnt out.“To remedy the situation, the ministry has recruited more nurses, in addition to re-deploying nurses and medical officers from elsewhere to the respiratory unit,” she said.Attempts to get hold of Eckhardt Vorster, the managing director of Afrox Namibia, were unsuccessful. jemima@namibiansun.com

Health takes one more breath

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Namibian Sun 2025-11-07

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Health takes one more breath

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Namibian Sun 2025-11-07

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