… expects to save N$16m on annual referral costs
The government has invested N$49.8 million in Namibia’s first state-owned and operated Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) facility, ending more than two decades of reliance on private providers for public-sector MRI scans.
The facility, commissioned at Windhoek Central Hospital on Wednesday, is expected to cut referral costs, reduce waiting times and expand access to advanced diagnostic services in the public health system.
Minister in the Presidency Charles Mubita, delivering President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s keynote address at the inauguration, said the N$49.8 million investment covers the MRI machine, accessories and infrastructure upgrades required to operate the facility.
For more than 20 years, public-sector patients requiring MRI examinations have been referred to private facilities because the government did not operate its own MRI service.
Over the past five years alone, the Ministry of Health and Social Services referred more than 4,000 patients to private facilities for MRI scans at a cost exceeding N$80 million, averaging more than N$16 million annually.
Government estimates that maintaining similar referral levels over the MRI machine’s expected 20-year lifespan could have cost about N$320 million. Based on historical referral expenditure, the N$49.8 million investment could broadly be recovered within three years.
The MRI facility will be used to diagnose and manage neurological, spinal, abdominal, pelvic and other complex medical conditions, while reducing turnaround times and supporting faster clinical decision-making.
“But the most important return to this investment cannot be measured in monetary terms alone. It will be measured in earlier diagnoses, better treatment decisions, reduced turnaround times and improved outcomes for patients,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said in the speech delivered on her behalf.
She said the facility was also intended to improve equity in healthcare by ensuring access to advanced diagnostic technology is not determined by a patient’s ability to afford private healthcare.
Government plans to expand public MRI services to northern Namibia, with procurement and installation of a second machine at Oshakati Intermediate Hospital expected to begin during the current financial year.
The second facility is expected to reduce the need for patients from northern regions to travel to Windhoek or be referred to private providers for MRI examinations.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said the government had also procured CT scanners, X-ray and ultrasound machines, ECG and CTG machines, anaesthetic equipment and patient monitors for distribution to public health facilities across the country.
She said the equipment was procured directly from manufacturers as part of efforts to reduce costs and strengthen diagnostic capacity within the public health system.
The government is also constructing the Windhoek District Hospital, Ondangwa District Hospital, Nkurenkuru District Hospital and Otjiwarongo Referral Hospital as part of its broader health infrastructure programme.
Namibia currently has 297 clinics and 43 health centres, with about 87% of the population living within 10 kilometres of a health facility.
