The government says the Universal Health Coverage Policy Framework will be developed this year to provide Namibians with improved access to quality healthcare services.
This was emphasised by Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Iipumbu Shiimi during his tabling of the national budget in parliament on Wednesday.
Shiimi said the Health and Social Services Ministry is allocated N$9.7 billion for the 2023/24 financial year, and over N$29.4 billion over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework.
“Within that allocation, we have [made] available more than N$700 million to the ministry for investments in and renovations of health facilities as well as recruitment of medical personnel, acquisition of pharmaceuticals and ambulances,” he added.
In the same vein, through the provision to the health sector, Shiimi said the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises has been allocated N$5.8 billion, including N$2.7 billion for Public Servants Medical Aid Scheme (PSEMAS).
All these efforts are geared towards making good quality healthcare services easily accessible to all Namibians at the lowest cost. Namibia currently has 1,150 outreach points, 27 primary clinics, 44 health centres, 30 district hospital and only five referral hospitals, as per the ministerial statistics.
Namibia, although having an international ranking of above 70% as a provider of healthcare services, is still faced with a number of challenges, such as shortage of medicines and medical equipment, shortage of staff, dilapidated hospitals, as well as inadequate health facilities, which forces many of the inhabitants to track long distances to acquire such service.
Last year, The Brief reported on the Ministry of Health and Social Services’ progress on implementing the universal healthcare initiative. A ministerial representative, Jeremia Nghipundjwa, had said the ministry was seized with analysing the situation on how to best make healthcare accessible to all people in Namibia.
“Technical teams are still rounding up situational analysis… which will deal with the envisaged challenges of implementing the universal healthcare coverage policy, such as how we can improve healthcare services; also help us address questions whether what we have is adequate to satisfy the needs of everyone,” Nghipundjwa then said.
