Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Covid-19 pandemic placed enormous pressure on the country’s public health facilities, exposing the system’s inefficiencies, of which one was a lack of sufficient medical oxygen at certain hospitals and clinics.
This was highlighted by the Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Kalumbi Shangula, at the official handover of Oxygen Generation Plants in the Kavango regions, specifically in Nkurenkuru and Rundu.
The plant that was installed at the Rundu Intermediate Hospital was donated by the government of the United States of America (USA). The other plant, which was installed adjacent to the newly inaugurated Nkurenkuru Primary Health Care Clinic, was donated by the Welsh Government, through a partnership between the University of Namibia (UNAM) and the Cardiff University.
“While Covid-19 cases have gone down, the overall objective of the donated oxygen generating plants is to support the Ministry of Health and Social Services’ efforts in the fight against Covid-19 and to improve medical oxygen supply capacity,” Shangula said.
Covid-19 infected 869 people and claimed 23 of these lives in the Kavango West Region, while the situation was more severe in the Kavango East Region. According to the minister, the Kavango East Region recorded a total 6 783 cases, of which 230 died. This translates to a 6% case fatality ratio.
The country’s struggle for medical oxygen during the pandemic was also reiterated by the Director of the United States (US) Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr Brian Baker, who said that the demand for oxygen for hospitalised Covid-19 patients was so serious that Namibia had to import oxygen.
“But bringing oxygen in tanks into the country is not sustainable, as sometimes the supplies are not enough to meet the needs of Namibians. On top of that, importing oxygen can be extremely expensive. A sustainable solution is for Namibia to have its own means to fill its own tanks with oxygen,” Baker added.
According to Baker, the plant at the Rundu Intermediate Hospital, is not only capable of meeting the hospital’s oxygen demand, but it will also be able to fill tanks from other health facilities. He credited this to the fact that the plant, which is worth N$6,5 million, has two 500-litre tanks. Shangula said that the plant in Nkurenkuru will also guarantee constant oxygen supply at the facility as it can generate 275 litres of oxygen per minute.
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