By: Vetondouua Tjivikua

The Onandjokwe state hospital has allegedly run out of medication for diabetes patients.

This comes after doctors told a diabetes patient to purchase his diabetes medication at a private pharmacy when he returned for a follow up at the Onandjokwe state hospital in the Oshikoto region.

According to the daughter of a diabetic patient, who asked to remain anonymous, her father went to the Onandjokwe state hospital for a follow-up. She said doctors told him to buy the medication at a private pharmacy because the hospital doesn’t have medicine. She said her father was told that there’s no other way the hospital can help but rather refer him to the pharmacy.

”Sometimes we ask those who have medical aid to assist us so that we can get the medication”, she said.

She told The Villager that her father usually gets his medication when he visits the hospital, but this time around, he was referred to get it from the pharmacy.

She said she feared this was due to a medication shortage at the hospital. The development has raised that a shortage of medicines at state pharmacies remains a worry for Namibians.

She says their biggest concern is that the father is a pensioner, and the little he gets from the pension fund now has to be used to purchase medication.

When approached for comment, the executive director of the health ministry, Ben Nangombe, told The Villager that the ministry was not aware of the situation.

”I will have to check with the superintendent to find out what is happening,” he said.

Nangombe also stated that he would have to confirm with the central medical stores what the medication stock levels are. Only then can he comment about the situation in Onandjokwe, he said.

In 2020 Namibia faced a medicine shortage. At the time, local

Pharmacies accused South Africa of hoarding essential medicines, which they said negatively impacted their availability to patients.

In 2019, Namibia experienced another shortage of medicine. Nangombe, at the time, stated that there had been no public tender; therefore, it was challenging to have a fixed supplier of pharmaceuticals and some of the prescription drugs.