Editorial: A hospital without medicine is a crime against the people
What is the purpose of a hospital that cannot heal? In Okahandja, the state hospital has been stripped of its most basic function: to save lives. Since June, shelves have stood bare, and patients – 94.6% of them, according to deputy mayor Akser Aupindi – have been left without the medicine they need. This is not a minor glitch in supply chains. It is a crisis. And it is killing trust, hope and perhaps even lives.
The details are shocking. Essential medicines – epilepsy drugs, antibiotics, psychiatric medication, children’s vaccines, neonatal solutions – are gone. Ambulances are broken down. Patients are ferried in a government bakkie as if human life were cargo. In the midst of all this, the hospital continues to function as a building where staff collect salaries, not as a sanctuary of care.
This is not misfortune. It is bad leadership. For too long, Namibians have tolerated a healthcare system that staggers from crisis to crisis, where ordinary people are left to pray that essential medicines are in stock, that an ambulance is available, that someone, somewhere in authority, still cares.
The silence of the health ministry in the face of such damning revelations is unacceptable. Minister Esperance Luvindao must answer:How did this collapse happen? Why was it allowed to persist for months? And most importantly, what is the immediate plan to restore dignity and services to Okahandja?
Aupindi is right to demand closure of the hospital if it cannot serve its purpose. Keeping the doors open under current conditions is a cruel deception, a pretence of healthcare. Citizens walk in seeking treatment but leave with empty hands and heavier despair.
Namibians must refuse to normalise this. Communities should rally, demand accountability, and insist on urgent remedies.
The details are shocking. Essential medicines – epilepsy drugs, antibiotics, psychiatric medication, children’s vaccines, neonatal solutions – are gone. Ambulances are broken down. Patients are ferried in a government bakkie as if human life were cargo. In the midst of all this, the hospital continues to function as a building where staff collect salaries, not as a sanctuary of care.
This is not misfortune. It is bad leadership. For too long, Namibians have tolerated a healthcare system that staggers from crisis to crisis, where ordinary people are left to pray that essential medicines are in stock, that an ambulance is available, that someone, somewhere in authority, still cares.
The silence of the health ministry in the face of such damning revelations is unacceptable. Minister Esperance Luvindao must answer:How did this collapse happen? Why was it allowed to persist for months? And most importantly, what is the immediate plan to restore dignity and services to Okahandja?
Aupindi is right to demand closure of the hospital if it cannot serve its purpose. Keeping the doors open under current conditions is a cruel deception, a pretence of healthcare. Citizens walk in seeking treatment but leave with empty hands and heavier despair.
Namibians must refuse to normalise this. Communities should rally, demand accountability, and insist on urgent remedies.
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Namibian Sun
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