Patients at Eenhana State Hospital say they are faced with waiting for treatment in queues for hours, staff shortages and overcrowding.
Some of the other issues at the healthcare facility are a shortage of hospital beds, and wards being too small to accommodate admitted patients.
When The Namibian visited the hospital last week, patients were sleeping at its entrance.
During the day, patients were standing around everywhere as there is not enough space to sit.
Sylvia Haimbodi (57) said she hitched a ride from a village in the Ohangwena region, 76km away.
“I arrived here at around 08h30 and I finally got treated at around 13h00,” she said.
The maternity ward also has limited space. Expecting mothers said they often have to sleep on stretchers along the hospital’s corridors.
Some patients said they wait for more than five hours to be given prescription medicine.
Esther Ananias visited the hospital on Monday to pick up her elderly mother’s monthly blood pressure medication.
She said she arrived at the hospital at 11h00 and was still not helped at 15h00.
“As you can see many of the people still seated here have been here since I came. What is happening here at this hospital?” Ananias asked.
A hospital worker, who spoke to The Namibian on condition of anonymity, said: “People are really suffering when they come to the hospital. The queues are too long and people are standing in the sun.
“There is no medicine here at times and people would be sent to pharmacies instead for medicine and many cannot afford it,”‘ she said.
Chief Ohangwena medical officer Dr Odon Nkongolo says although he is aware of the challenges the hospital he is not at liberty to comment.
“The public relations office is authorised to speak to you,” he says.
Minister of health and social services Kalumbi Shangula says Eenhana State Hospital was built when the region’s population was not as big.
He says he has visited the hospital on several occasions and has not found it in a deplorable condition.
“The capacity which was sufficient then is no longer sufficient, because, as we aware, the Ohangwena region has one of the biggest populations and that hospital caters to people from southern Angola, so the demand outweighs the capacity.”
Shangula says the Cabinet has approved a budget of N$16 billion to upgrade healthcare facilities across the country.
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