The Ministry of Health and Social Services on Thursday received a donation of medical equipment worth N.dollars 14 million from the United Nations Agencies to support government in the fight against COVID-19.

The donation consists of several items including pharmaceuticals, clinical supplies, personal protective equipment as well as oxygen concentrators.

Health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula said the donation and many others that the ministry continues to receive go a long way not only to strengthen the ministry’s national preparedness and response to the pandemic, but also contribute significantly to the provision of public health services in general as they allow for the ministry to channel resources to other programmes within the ministry.

“It is important to underscore the fact that, although new infections and deaths are declining, we are not out of the woods yet. We have gone through that bad experience and we do not need to return to that space where our country was gripped by the devastation of the traumatising impact of the pandemic as witnessed during the third wave. We must remain mindful that if we drop our guard, the cases may start to increase again,” he cautioned.

UN Resident Coordinator, Sen Pang said since the beginning of this year, UN Namibia has donated many supplies of total value exceeding N.dollars 20 million.

He said more consignments are scheduled to arrive in the following weeks and months to support the Namibian government in its efforts to timely respond to COVID-19 and prevent the further spread of this pandemic.

“The national vaccination programme remains our top priority. To further facilitate the vaccine uptake in Namibia, my colleagues and I will spare no efforts to help the Namibian government raise the awareness of the people and secure adequate supply of vaccines,” he said.

Source: Namibia Press Agency