Tujoromajo Kasuto
Ohorongo Cement today donated more than N$26 million worth of medical equipment and supplies to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS).
These comprises of 899 300 medical masks and 2 000 surgical gowns.
Health Minister, Dr Kalumbi Shangula, at the handover ceremony said the donation serves to support Government efforts in the fight against Covid-19 and to capacitate public health facilities to continue providing health services to the nation. “We have come a long way in the fight against this pandemic. Although positive cases are decreasing, we cannot let our guard down, but should now, more than ever reinforce our strength by getting vaccinated to build a barrier in anticipation of a possible 4th wave.”
Kalumbi further urges the country to continue to protect health care workers for them to serve the nation in a safe environment adding this donation exactly does that. “I express my profound gratitude for the donation, which will complement all efforts to fight Covid-19,” he adds. Shangula notes that the second wave fell upon the country last year registering the highest number of new infections of 683 in a single day on 13 December, 2020. Ohorongo Cement’s Managing Director, Hans- Wilhelm Schütte, handed over the donation.
The third wave which started at the end of May 2021, was facilitated by a new Covid-19 variant. From then on, was a rapid and exponential rise in the number of new cases reaching a total of 2 547 in a single day.
The third wave is associated with very high numbers of new cases that resulted in a rapid increase in the number of hospital admissions across the country. The hospital bed capacity across the country could not accommodate any more admissions; oxygen supplies where exhausted and health workforce were overstretched and as a result some heath care workers got infected as they were saving lives and sadly some of them lost their lives.
He says it is during these “trying times” that Namibians demonstrated solidarity and care for one another. MoHSS became the major beneficiary of benevolence and goodwill of the public, development partners and international community. The ministry received donations in the form of medical equipment, diagnostic tools, PPEs and therapeutic agents as well as human resource for health adding to their own internal resources.
In addition, Kalumbi reiterates that although the country is observing a downward trend in the number of new cases, hospitalisation and deaths, there is still a need to be vigilant until the number of new infections are significantly lowered.
