New ambulance for Osire
In addition to a new ambulance, the Osire refugee camp now also has a Covid-19 isolation centre.Along with medical equipment and medication, these were handed over by the Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Kalumbi Shangula, to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last weekend.
The refugee camp was established in 1992 and houses asylum seekers mostly from Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Somalia.
Although the clinic employs nurses, social workers as well as a pharmacist's assistant, it does not have a doctor. As a result, patients are often referred to the Otjiwarongo state hospital, with an average of three to four trips a day to transport patients back and forth. The latter excludes emergencies and maternity cases.
Due to high mileage, the one ambulance previously serving the clinic that the UNHCR donated back in 2010, is frequently out of service.
According to Shangula, the new ambulance will not only handle emergencies at Osire, but also for nearby farms and in especially in cases of car accidents, births and snake bites.
Shangula stressed that the government is building new clinics in different regions of the country in an effort to bring services closer to communities. In the past few years, the ministry has also employed more than 1 300 health workers and deployed them to various parts of the country.
Referring to the Covid-19 pandemic, Shangula warned that “it is still among us”, with the number of new cases currently increasing in Khomas, Erongo and Otjozondjupa in particular.
He again appealed to residents to have themselves vaccinated against Covid-19 to protect them from serious illness, hospitalization and death. “Government has purchased sufficient vaccines that have already been sent to vaccination sites countrywide,” he said.
Shangula stressed that the most effective weapons against the disease, apart from vaccination, include wearing masks, social distancing and hand washing. - [email protected]