Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Kalumbi Shangula, officially inaugurated the Treeside Medical Centre in Windhoek on Wednesday.

In his remarks, Shangula said private sector investment in the provision of health care is important as it strengthens health services and offers choices to patients, while reducing congestion and long waits for patients to receive medical services.

He said there are ongoing efforts to strengthen Namibia’s health sector through both public and private sector investments, which is why Government commits significant resources to the health sector every year, with about 15 per cent of the national budget allocated to the health sector annually. This puts Namibia among a few countries in Africa to meet the Abuja Declaration target, which enjoins the African Union member states to allocate not less than 15 per cent of their annual appropriation to health.

“The aim is to ensure that citizens have access to quality health care in order to improve the people’s quality of life. We welcome investments by private sector investors to strengthen health services,” said Shangula.

He added that Government’s efforts to provide quality, accessible and reliable health care to all Namibians will not be complete unless private facilities and the quality of service they provide are available to everyone, because access to quality health services for everyone is a challenge that Government seeks to overcome through the concept of universal health coverage.

“Universal health coverage is premised on the principle that citizens should be able to access quality health care services without suffering financial hardship. The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that we are not safe until everyone is safe. In this context, it is important for all stakeholders to work together to expand access to health care,” stated Shangula.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency