A CEREMONY to launch a N$380 million state-of-the-art private hospital named in honour of the First Lady, Penexupifo Pohamba, was held at the Hilton Hotel in Windhoek on Monday.
The Lady Pohamba Private Hospital will be situated in Windhoek’s Kleine Kuppe area and is expected to create permanent employment opportunities for more than 350 Namibians with at least 1 000 jobs coming during its construction phase.
Speaking at the ceremony, the First Lady expressed her gratitude in being associated with the project as patron and said the significance of the project was the fact that it will be 100% Namibian-owned and will encourage individual business, entrepreneurs and the private sector to have confidence and invest more in Namibia’s economy.
“In addition to providing employment opportunities to our people, the new 134-bed hospital promises to alleviate the shortage of the maternity beds in Windhoek, which in turn will contribute to better service delivery to patients,” she said.
Pohamba, who is a registered nurse with experience in midwifery, further encouraged commitment from the private sector in assisting and uplifting local communities by adhering to corporate social responsibility programmes and to improve health awareness, particularly in the growing Khomas Region.
“I would further like to encourage the owners of this project to form alliances and co-operate with well-established hospitals in the developed world in order to benchmark our services with theirs as part of our strategy to achieve the Vision 2030 goal,” she said.
According to Desmond Howard, partner of the Demushuwa Property Developers and spokesperson of the hospital project, the proposed facility will be home to a 24-hour Level One Trauma Unit, which he claimed will be a first in Namibia.
“Level One Trauma Unit treats severely injured patients including persons involved in motor vehicle accidents and acts of violence. The unit will be staffed 24 hours with trauma surgeons, anesthesiologists, trauma nurses and vital support services,” he said.
Howard said the facility will also provide crucial medical services, ancillary services, orthopaedic, ear, plastic, nose and throat surgeries, gynaecology, obstetrics, neurosurgery, anaesthetics, internal medicine, cardiology, paediatrics, urology, psychiatry, pulmonology and oncology.
Howard said the staff shortages within the medical field in Namibia prompted the need for skills’ transfer and empowering the younger generation of Namibian doctors and the new facility provides a platform for that.
“The experienced doctors practicing at the hospital will offer training to younger doctors at specially-equipped lecture theaters” he said. Howard said Namibians can expect a modern, digitally equipped hospital in the country. He said analysis of the current healthcare environment in Windhoek and surrounding areas, confirmed that there was a need for a private healthcare facility to deliver accessible healthcare services. Howard further said the hospital will be the first one in Windhoek’s southern hemisphere, close to the Eros Airport, which will be easily accessible in cases of emergency.
Demushuwa Property Developers will have a 55% share in the hospital, while various medical practitioners and pharmacists will have a 38,5% share, and a 6,5% share by the Waldheim Shiluwa Trust.
Shiluwa is Pohamba’s son.
He said the hospital will be part of the new mixed-use business node called Hilltop Estate Development which will include the Grove Mall of Namibia that will be completed in 2018. This development will also include the Design Square mixed-use development featuring a new Virgin Active Gym, High Performance Centre focusing on sports recovery, a hotel, Wild Olive residential apartments and general office space.
According to Howard, the earthworks for the hospital project are complete and construction will commence soon. The hospital will start receiving patients in March of 2015.
The Minister of Health and Social Services, Richard Kamwi, who was also a guest of honour at the event, welcomed the hospital project, saying it is a milestone in Namibia’s health sector.
Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for
only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!
