The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) will approach the private sector to form partnerships in upgrading all clinics across the country to healthcare facilities, Health Minister Esperance Luvindao has revealed.
“When I took office, there were a lot of congratulatory messages and enquiries for partnerships from the private sector that reached my desk. We have to be creative,” she said.
Luvindao says that she has already approached a number of private sector companies to form partnerships towards this initiative.
The MoHSS was allocated N$12.2 billion in the 2025/2026 financial year budget.
\While N$780 million in the current financial year and N$2.7 billion over the MTEF has been availed to expand the network of health infrastructures countrywide and reduce the congestion at State hospitals, Luvindao argues that this was insufficient to upgrade all the clinics.
Namibia currently has about 322 clinics and 56 healthcare centres.
“At this point in time, we are putting together a list of what exactly we need so that when we approach private entities, we can list the needs and say ‘If you can partner with us to do five facilities at a time, we can then make sure that, while we’re not solving everything at once, we’re tackling it once piece at a time’,” she said.
She revealed that an internal memo has gone out, in which she directed the ministry’s head of primary healthcare to create a list of the needs of all clinics throughout the entire country.
“Because when we upgrade from a clinic to a healthcare centre, there are construction needs, as well as equipment, and human resource needs. The clinics are different, some are more advanced than others, so the needs are different. The list will speak to what we need to do to upgrade those clinics to healthcare facilities,” the Minister said.
She underscored the need to upgrade the nation’s clinics, which would accelerate the ministry’s efforts to decentralise healthcare services in the country and to reduce the burden placed on district hospitals.
According to the ministry, about 85% of Namibians rely on public health services
