Africa-Press – Namibia. TWENTY-ONE healthcare workers have succumbed to Covid-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country in March last year.
As the country continues to battle Covid-19, healthcare workers are increasingly infected with Covid-19, and hospital beds are becoming fewer as more members of the public need hospitalisation.
This was according to minister of health and social services Kalumbi Shangula at the official handover of a field hospital to the ministry by the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) at Oshakati on Wednesday.
“The third wave was associated with a very high number of new cases, which resulted in a rapid increase in the number of hospital admissions, initially in Khomas and Erongo regions, but later also in other regions across the country.
“Our health system became overwhelmed. Our hospital-bed capacity across the country could not accommodate any more admissions, oxygen supplies where exhausted, and our health workforce was overstretched. As a result some healthcare workers got infected as they were saving lives, and sadly, some of them lost their lives. We have lost 21 healthcare workers in the line of their duty,” Shangula said.
He said healthcare and other frontline workers had to work round the clock to care for the sick, while the nation was in the grips of the third wave and its high number of deaths.
“Our nation was gripped by consternation as the number of those who succumbed skyrocketed daily and weekly to levels never seen before in the history of our nation due to a disease. I commend the frontline workers for working so tirelessly and selflessly to save lives and provide care to those who need it,” he said.
Shangula urged healthcare workers to get vaccinated and to take the lead in the vaccination drive. Over 700 healthcare workers have thus far reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 across the country.
LABOUR OF LOVE The 40-bed fully equipped tented ward is situated at the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital and was constructed at a cost of N$3 million, which was donated by Belgium-based company CMB.
Shangula said the private sector is a critical partner in the country’s response to the pandemic. “Although businesses have been severely and negatively impacted by the pandemic, the private sector still sacrificed their time, effort, expertise and resources to assist the government.
“This demonstration of patriotism will always be remembered,” he said. Oshana health director Johanna Haimene at the handover said the Oshakati hospital was in dire need of additional Covid-19 beds.
NCCI president Bisey Uirab said: “We are fully committed to ensuring that we provide oxygen supply to all our public hospitals and facilities, and support them with additional space . . . across the country. To us, you, the healthcare professionals, are the unsung emergency rescue heroes and heroines whose generosity has indeed passed the test of time.”
