Medical outreach creates demand

Health Minister Bernard Haufiku is expected to return to Grootfontein State Hospital on 26 September after an overwhelming number of people turned up at the hospital during a national medical outreach campaign.
During the campaign that took place from 5 to 9 September, Haufiku and his team circumcised more than 200 men and boys and performed 16 tonsillectomies.
The men who were circumcised included a group of prisoners who came to the hospital for their monthly medical check-ups.
The team also attended to nine gynaecology cases, 10 urology cases and two caesarean sections.
During this outreach specialists reviewed 89 outpatients-department cases and performed 62 ultrasound scans.
“There is a great demand in the rural areas and some of the doctors are still not as experienced and need assistance,” said Haufiku.
Haufiku has on numerous occasions emphasised the need for regional medical outreach programmes to be strengthened in order to reduce the number of patients flooding to Windhoek, Rundu and Oshakati for treatment.
He was also recently quoted during the Medical Doctors and Dentists Forum at Ongwediva for saying: “The real and sustainable change as far as healthcare delivery is concerned is to build capacity at regional and district levels and deploy health brigades in the community to educate the community about disease prevention and motivate individuals to develop an early healthcare service seeking habit.”

JEMIMA BEUKES