Tsumkwe's health conundrum
Patients turned away due to health passport shortages
Community members have to provide their own papers, which are then used by nurses as health passports.
Tsumkwe residents have highlighted the many hurdles they face to access adequate healthcare.
Some residents said they have been denied healthcare because they lack health passports. In some cases, residents have resorted to using pieces from a carton box so the nurses can use them as their health passports.
Kxao Kxoan, a resident of Routpos in the Nyae Nyae conservancy, told Namibian Sun the challenges they face mean community members simply stay away from the clinic even if they have serious ailments.
Interpreting for his sister-in-law, Kxao said when she gave birth, she went to the clinic to get medication for her baby but was sent away because she lacked a health passport.
"Those papers are now full. She must now go and find another paper so they can write again, but we do not have one. At times we even go to tear off a carton box in order for them to give us medication," he said.
No help
Xao Cwi, a community member who has tuberculosis (TB), said he has been given a container for his sputum three times already, but each time he has to discard it because clinic staff are not available.
"They only come for pregnant women who must give birth. There are days when they tell us they will come and get the children to take them to the clinic because they cannot give sputum, but they never come. They will tell us the child should not eat until they come, but by noon they still haven't come and you begin to pity your own child who is hungry and crying," he explained.
Fritz Nuxab, who has been diagnosed with psoriasis and whose body is covered with itchy and painful scabs, complained about missing his follow-up consultations because the ambulance never returned to pick him up.
One of his feet has developed sores, making it extremely difficult for him to walk, let alone hitchhike to the clinic.
He lives in a hut with no floor and sleeps on the sand, which aggravates his health situation.
Ministry responds
Ben Nangombe, the executive director of the health ministry, said he must consult with the health directorate in the region to determine why there are no health passports.
"It is a matter for me to speak to the local authorities in the region to find out why this is so. Even if it is like that, there has to be a solution. We do outreaches, and we have to find out whether there were no outreaches or why a problem like this persists. Outreaches are designed for cases like that [the psoriasis case]. It is a matter of whether the community health workers face transport problems," he said.
Nangombe added that patients are not always in the same locations due to their semi-nomadic lifestyle.
However, when Namibian Sun returned to the area after a visit in January, the same people were found in the same places.
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Some residents said they have been denied healthcare because they lack health passports. In some cases, residents have resorted to using pieces from a carton box so the nurses can use them as their health passports.
Kxao Kxoan, a resident of Routpos in the Nyae Nyae conservancy, told Namibian Sun the challenges they face mean community members simply stay away from the clinic even if they have serious ailments.
Interpreting for his sister-in-law, Kxao said when she gave birth, she went to the clinic to get medication for her baby but was sent away because she lacked a health passport.
"Those papers are now full. She must now go and find another paper so they can write again, but we do not have one. At times we even go to tear off a carton box in order for them to give us medication," he said.
No help
Xao Cwi, a community member who has tuberculosis (TB), said he has been given a container for his sputum three times already, but each time he has to discard it because clinic staff are not available.
"They only come for pregnant women who must give birth. There are days when they tell us they will come and get the children to take them to the clinic because they cannot give sputum, but they never come. They will tell us the child should not eat until they come, but by noon they still haven't come and you begin to pity your own child who is hungry and crying," he explained.
Fritz Nuxab, who has been diagnosed with psoriasis and whose body is covered with itchy and painful scabs, complained about missing his follow-up consultations because the ambulance never returned to pick him up.
One of his feet has developed sores, making it extremely difficult for him to walk, let alone hitchhike to the clinic.
He lives in a hut with no floor and sleeps on the sand, which aggravates his health situation.
Ministry responds
Ben Nangombe, the executive director of the health ministry, said he must consult with the health directorate in the region to determine why there are no health passports.
"It is a matter for me to speak to the local authorities in the region to find out why this is so. Even if it is like that, there has to be a solution. We do outreaches, and we have to find out whether there were no outreaches or why a problem like this persists. Outreaches are designed for cases like that [the psoriasis case]. It is a matter of whether the community health workers face transport problems," he said.
Nangombe added that patients are not always in the same locations due to their semi-nomadic lifestyle.
However, when Namibian Sun returned to the area after a visit in January, the same people were found in the same places.
[email protected]
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