PRESS RELEASE

NSHR calls upon the Namibian Police to immediately investigate the crimes of criminal negligence and or involuntary culpable homicide against the relevant medical personnel, both doctors and nurses, at Windhoek’s Katutura State Hospital. This call is necessitated by the untimely death of a three-days-old infant, Maria Munetumba, at the said health institution. The top administrative officials in the Ministry of Health should therefore be held responsible for Ms. Munetumba’s death and should also be investigated accordingly.

“As a human rights monitoring and advocacy organization, which during the last 17 years has been systematically critical of inter alia the deteriorating health standards in this country, we join the rest of the nation in expressing our moral outrage over the culpable death of Ms. Munetumba. Health Minister Dr. Richard Kamwi in particular should be held vicariously liable for all the omissions and commissions of the health personnel under his supervision”, said NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh.

According to widespread print and electronic media reports, the toddler died in the caring arms of her distressed and desperate mother, Pascalia Endjala. Nurses at the said hospital reportedly told Ms. Endjala to ‘wait in the line for your turn’, instead of treating the case as an emergency.

“The said nurses reportedly even made derogatory remarks and poked fun at Ms. Endjala apparently because the latter is poor”, ya Nangoloh said.

According to media reports, a lethal spitting cobra snake bit the infant at Windhoek’s impoverished Havana informal settlement, some 10 kilometers northwest of the capital’s city center. The deadly zebra reptile reportedly struck the infant to the head on February 16 2008 at approximately 17h00. The deceased was apparently asleep in her parents’ corrugated iron shack when the reptile struck. Havana is located in the mountainous section of the city.

The cynical and violent as well as the uncaring attitudes on the part of the so many health personnel in the country is reflective of the general state of affairs in other departments of the Namibian State itself. In turn, this state of affairs is indicative of the inherently intolerant, anger-laden and hateful society as exemplified by the concerns expressed yesterday by the Namibian Head of State, President Lucas Hifikepunye Pohamba, and House Speaker, Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab. In their respective speeches regarding the current levels of political intolerance plaguing the country, both Pohamba and Gurirab warned against the ugly consequences which might result from the high levels of political hatred prevailing in the country.

“Our leaders are failing our nation by failing to instill in the minds of our people the values and dispositions of political tolerance, foster genuine national reconciliation and unity in diversity as well as common loyalty one Constitution and one State. Moreover, the kind of treatment, manner or fashion nurses and other subordinate health personnel receive from their superiors are simply not conducive to a caring and compassionate working environment”, ya Nangoloh charged.

The snakebite case is not an isolated incident taking place at this country’s health institutions. Consider at least five other incidents of alleged gross negligence:

1. On December 31 2006, a twenty-eight-years old mother lost her newborn baby at the Katutura State Hospital after medical personnel allegedly accidentally ripped its stomach open during an operation. The mother other baby was only told that her baby was born with its ‘intestines outside’. The baby was then removed from the mother and taken away. Three days later and after the mother demanded to see her baby, she was told that the baby was transferred to the Windhoek Central Hospital. When the mother made a follow up at the latter health institution, she was told that her baby was in the hospital waiting to be stitched to cover its intestines. This baby passed away on January 15 2007!

2. On January 29 2007, Ms. Iuze Minyoi (23) was operated on in the Katutura State Hospital and was allegedly left lying in a hospital bed with an ‘open stomach wound’. She subsequently died from an inflammatory infection and a septic wound.

3. On January 19 2002, doctors at the Rundu State Hospital allegedly left bandage or “packs” in the stomach of Philip Muronga (48), following on operation. The “packs” were only detected after Muronga was discharged from the Hospital but returned later after he experienced “extra-ordinary” stomach pains, a rotten odor and the reopening of his sutured wound. Muronga, who nearly died, is currently permanently disabled.

4. Several years ago, an Oranjemund-based woman, a Ms. Shidinge, was similarly left with operation instruments in her stomach, following an operation at the town’s hospital. These instruments were only detected several months after she experienced severe stomach pains and was re-admitted for a second operation!

5. On July 16 2007, the “appalling and deplorable conditions” prevailing in State hospitals prompted the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) to urge President Pohamba to declare the public health sector “a disaster area”. On July 12 2007, Health and Social Services Minister Dr. Kamwi expressed unhappiness with the state of affairs prevailing in the public health sector, which he blamed on budgetary constraints. However, LAC charged that poor or non-existent maintenance and repair of health infrastructure was more “a case of pure incompetence than budgetary constraints”.

6. On July 24 2007, President Pohamba urged Health Minister Dr. Richard Kamwi to “act with urgency” and do something about the deteriorating levels of service at health institutions in the country. Speaking at the launch of the National Policy on HIV-AIDS, Pohamba said the deteriorating service standards had “placed the health and lives of patients at risk and needed to be "rectified without delay”. President Pohamba also expressed concern over the “worsening state of hygiene” in and around the public health facilities, including dirty residential complexes where our doctors, nurses and other health workers live.

In light of the above, Health Minister Dr. Richard Kamwi and other senior administrative officials at the health institution should be held vicariously responsible for the untimely death of Ms. Munetumba, and for apparently failing to instill the appropriate caring and compassionate dispositions and attitudes as well as to impose strict discipline at hospitals, health centers and clinics throughout the country.

Moreover, in terms of Article 40 of the Namibian Constitution on the Ministerial accountability: “All Ministers shall be accountable individually for the administration of their own Ministries and collectively for the administration of the work of the Cabinet, both to the President and Parliament”.

“Hence, the blame for the pathetic and derelict state of affairs prevailing at our hospitals should be laid squarely at the feet of especially Dr. Kamwi, in particular, and the whole Cabinet, in general. The situation prevailing at this country’s public health institutions flagrantly undermines the right of citizens to enjoy the highest attainable standard of mental and physical health care as envisaged in Articles 95(j) and 12 of the Namibian Constitution and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), respectively”, ya Nangoloh concluded.

For additional comment, please contact: Dorkas Phillemon at Tel: 061 253 447 or 061 236 183 (office hours only) or Phil ya Nangoloh at Cell: 0811 299 8