Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila on Thursday commissioned a new 70-bed capacity field hospital for COVID-19 patients at the Windhoek Central Hospital.
The field hospital is an initiative of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce (NCCI) through its private sector coalition to fight against COVID-19.
In her remarks, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said the demand for services continues to challenge the capacity of the health system in terms of available hospital beds, supply of oxygen and the demand for more health care workers.
She said the government is busy constructing isolation facilities around the country to make more beds available for COVID-19 patients and most of the facilities are envisaged to be completed between August and October 2021.
“Currently, there are 1 732 isolation beds countrywide in the public and private sector of which 143 are ICU beds. Provision has also been made to increase mortuary capacity at hospitals around the country and to increase oxygen supply, procurement of medical equipment and supplies including the pharmaceuticals used in the treatment of COVID-19. We are pleased to note the increase in the uptake of COVID-19 vaccination. The government continues to pursue efforts to secure more doses for the country,” said Kuugongelwa-Amadhila.
She added that people should continue getting vaccinated in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration, and government will ensure that sufficient doses are secured and the vaccination rollout is smooth.
“I urge all Namibians to stringently follow public health guidelines to decrease the spread of the virus, which will ultimately remove the need to open new field hospitals. I take this opportunity to unreservedly thank the health workers and others at the forefront of fighting this virus for driving our COVID-19 response,” the Premier stated.
NCCI president Bisey /Uirab, who also spoke at the occasion, said NCCI and its private sector coalition have so far repaired over 100 hospitals beds and the campaign is ongoing. Another field hospital will soon be completed at Oshakati and will be hand over to the government.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
