Interns placed at health facilities

The health and social services ministry has confirmed the placement of a total of 144 professional interns who started at the beginning of July at various health facilities across the country, following the approval of a new policy framework on interns in the public service. In a statement released yesterday, the ministry's executive director Ben Nangombe confirmed 131 medical interns were given a two-year internship and placed at Windhoek Central Hospital, Katutura State Hospital, and the intermediate hospital at Oshakati and at Onandjokwe. In addition, 11 dental interns, on a period of one year, were placed in Windhoek, Oshakati, Rundu, Eenhana and Keetmanshoop.The ministry also approved the placement of two psychologist interns to the Windhoek Central Hospital for a period of one year.Nangombe said the facilities where interns have been placed are all accredited by the Health Professions Council of Namibia (HPCNA).The executive director noted that the placements followed the review on the placement of various categories of interns in the public service, which resulted in the introduction of a new overarching policy framework on internships. The relevant framework is stipulated in a public service staff rule, which consolidates the facilitation of placement of interns in the public service, clearly demarcating the types of internship and describing the operational parameters that apply to the different types of internships and qualifying as well as functional training. Nangombe yesterday extended congratulations to the interns, noting that professional interns “play an important role in complementing service delivery in our facilities, while they gain critical practical skills needed for them to achieve registration”.He urged the interns to be guided by the values of dedication, compassion and hard work in all they do. In May, Namibian Sun reported that Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila had directed the lifting of the internship programme suspensions in the public sector as from June. In a notice the prime minister said all government institutions, including ministries, should start accepting students seeking internships from that date.The temporary halt on internship appointments was issued in January this year. In a statement released, the prime minister explained “the revision of the placement modality for professional interns and trainees to be trained on the level of public service have come with new changes that will be to appoint interns on a temporary fixed-term contract with a basic fixed allowance.”Nampa reported Kuugongelwa-Amadhila added that government will abolish the automatic transition into entry functional levels after the interns complete the training and it will also remove the basis for salary recognition for professional interns and trainees. JANA-MARI SMITH

Interns placed at health facilities

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-10

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Interns placed at health facilities

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-10

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