Health ministry Executive Director, Ben Nangombe has said a number of medications are going to be delivered to hospitals in the second week of November.The Oshakati hospital psychiatric ward runs on a shortage of sedatives for two months now.
Reports of violent patients injuring health personnel due to a lack of psychotic drugs to calm them down have surfaced, prompting the Namibia Nurses Union (Nanu) to write to the ministry.
Nanu had given Nangombe until this week Tuesday to sort out the issue, threatening to down tools if their demands are not met.
Nangombe, speaking on the Eagle FM’s Morning Scoop, said the shortage is a result of matters beyond the ministry’s control.
“It’s a number of different types of medications that are going to be delivered in the coming two weeks and they will definitely help us deal with the shortage that has been experienced. But this shortage is not because of a lack of action on the part of the ministry.
“We have put in orders, we have engaged suppliers, but the effects of Covid-19 on international logistics, the lack of active pharmaceutical ingredients for the manufacture of these medications have affected not only Namibia but other countries around the world,” he said.
In the meantime, he has urged hospitals experiencing violent psychiatric patients to make use of safeguards as they await shipments of drugs.
