Villagers expose healthcare woes

Residents of Mururani village in Kavango West are relying on a mobile health clinic that only opens twice a week, while an ambulance that is supposed to assist the community is stationed 130 kilometres away in Rundu.

Villagers revealed this to Namibian Sun recently, while expressing their utmost disappointment with the lack of basic services they receive.

They said they have been living in Mururani for many years, but access to health services remain a challenge. Prior to the construction of the mobile clinic in 2017, the villagers had to travel about 30 kilometres to the Katjinakatji or Mpora clinics for health services.

For complex medical issues, villagers still have to travel about 130 kilometres to either Rundu or Grootfontein health facilities, while spending hundreds of dollars for transport.

Those who stay at the Mangetti settlement have to travel about 100 kilometres for treatment at the Katjinakatji clinic.

If Mangetti residents visit the Rundu state hospital or Grootfontein health facility, they endure 200 kilometres of travelling and the associated costs.

Mururani villagers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they can no longer tolerate government's poor service delivery and need a fully-fledged clinic at Mururani. The villagers argued it is very disappointing for government to construct a school and hostel, while there is no proper healthcare facility in place. They were referring to the Mururani Combined School and the community hostel.

“We spend hundreds of dollars to access health services.”





“That money is not spent on medication, but on transport to get to clinics and faraway hospitals,” one villager said.

“Imagine spending more than N$200 to go to Rundu or Grootfontein to access proper healthcare.

The clinics in the villagers only work from Monday to Friday, meaning that if you fall sick over the weekend, you should either choose to wait for Monday, which worsens your situation, or you hitchhike to Rundu or Grootfontein. Is that fair 29 years after Namibia gained independence?”

The villagers also complained about the ambulance issue.

“This thing of an ambulance does not only affect us, but all citizens of this country. Just imagine if you get involved in a car accident here at Mururani. Should you really wait for an ambulance coming from Rundu, which is 130 kilometres away? That is the sad reality which needs to be addressed,” the villagers said. Mankupi constituency councillor Lucas Muha confirmed the health service challenges. Muha explained that government only started distinguishing between Mururani and Katjinakatji, in terms of development, in 2017.

“The people of Mururani have been suffering all along until in 2017. We pushed the ministry of health to at least to consider Mururani as separate village from Katjinakatji, where there is a clinic that is about 30 kilometres from Mururani. We have been pushing for that agenda, and at least in response, they brought us that mobile clinic,” Muha said.

He said they do not want the mobile clinic to operate only two days a week. “The situation there is that it (the clinic) only opens twice a week, which I am not happy with, because you cannot say people should only be sick on Monday and then be sick again on Friday,” Muha argued. “Expecting mothers should now only be troubled by their pregnancies on Monday, when the nurse is there, which is not what we want.”

Muha said they proposed to the health ministry that the Mururani mobile clinic be treated differently from other mobile clinics, because the number of people relying on its services and the location.

Muha said deputy health minister Juliet Kavetuna had visited Mururani and saw the challenges.

He also said former health minister Bernard Haufiku had promised to take up the issue of the ambulance. At the time the plan was for an ambulance to be stationed at Mpora. However, the challenge was the recruitment of a driver, with the advice being that he or she should be from the area, to avoid accommodation issues.

During a visit to Rundu this week, health executive director Ben Nangombe told Namibian Sun the ministry is well-aware of the issues at Mururani and that they will be addressed in due course.

Nangombe said a driver will be recruited to operate an ambulance that will be stationed at Mpora clinic. “We are well-aware of the challenges the people are faced with and that is why the ministry is busy with the recruitment of staff, which will address all these issues,” Nangombe added.

KENYA KAMBOWE