Africa-Press – Namibia. TWO women residing at Okahandja Park informal settlement in Windhoek are suffering from serious chronic health conditions requiring their medication to remain refrigerated.
The area, however, has no electricity, and they are pleading for assistance. Constancia Kanguvi (68) says she has been living with hypertension since 2009, but her condition has worsened when a pole fell on her head and caused a fracture.
“That has later led to diabetes and epilepsy. I got paralysed due to a stroke in 2016, and my condition has worsened since then,” she says.
Kanguvi stays with her unemployed daughter, Christine Kanguvi (29), and her two grandchildren. Her right leg had to be amputated three months ago, she says.
Christine says their current living conditions are disheartening, since her mother does not have a proper wheelchair to help her move around their shack, and they have no access to electricity.
“The medication my mother requires is supposed to be refrigerated. Because we do not have electricity, we put it under the bed, because that is the coolest place in the house,” she says.
Christine says this time of the year is the hottest, worsened by the corrugated iron their dwelling is made of. “We are pleading to the government to come to our rescue and help us with electricity, because my mother’s life depends on it,” she says.
Christine says because of the lack of nearby toilets in the community, she has to carry her mother around to relieve herself. “To help her relieve herself I carry her to behind the house. We later throw ash from where we cooked there to speed up the decomposing process,” she says.
Magreta Uiras (58), a diabetic who also lives at Okahandja Park, is experiencing the same challenge as Kanguvi. Uiras has been living with diabetes for three years, and says she stores her medication at her sister’s place, which is far from where she lives.
She says having access to electricity would have a huge impact on their lives. “Our lives would greatly change if we had electricity in our area,” she says.
LOSS OF POTENCY Former health and social services minister Dr Bernard Haufiku said medication that is not stored correctly can be harmful or lose its potency.
“Medicines are very sensitive chemicals that need to be stored under certain temperature conditions. If you increase the temperature, you will change the composition of the medicine to the extent where it can be dangerous,” Haufiku said. He added that diabetes medication like insulin loses its potency completely over time.
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