Hospital plan takes new twist

There is a fresh twist to the planned referral hospital for the north, with Oshana governor Clemens Kashuupulwa saying a recent resolution by the Oshana regional councillors, who recommended Ondangwa as the preferred location for the project, is not legally binding.Recently the Oshana Regional Council unanimously approved the construction of a referral hospital at Ondangwa.It has now emerged that the resolution is not binding, as the Oshana political leadership went against a resolution taken in May during a consultative meeting with the minister of health, Bernhard Haufiku, which invited bids from Ondangwa and Ongwediva after the region got the nod.The ministry would then dispatch experts to determine the suitability of the identified pieces of land.It seems only Ongwediva submitted a proposal for the construction of the state-of-the-art 1 000-bed hospital, while Ondangwa argued that the land initially offered to the ministry for a district hospital should still be good enough for a referral hospital.The plans to build a district hospital at Ondangwa were shelved for a bigger referral hospital project.“A decision was taken for Ondangwa and Ongwediva to allocate suitable land. However, it was disputed by Ondangwa and some councillors,” Kashuupulwa said.“A second meeting under my chairmanship, including the affected towns, was held at the council building and again we reached deadlock. “Councillors decided to take the issue to their regional council meeting, to which I objected, but they went ahead and passed a resolution for the hospital to be built at Ondangwa,” explained Kashuupulwa. “The councillors passed a resolution for the referral hospital to be constructed in Ondangwa, but that resolution is not binding. Sometimes we do not follow procedures as we are supposed to. “During the regional council meeting only members of the council gave their input without considering the local authorities involved. I understand Ongwediva Town Council went ahead and made their submission.” The chairperson of the Oshana Regional Council, Gerson Hanu Kapenda, said there was no policy in place that allowed for regional and local authorities to jointly make official decisions. “We are the decision-making body of the region and that is why we decided to take the matter up to the council meeting and pass a resolution, which is a legal document. The decision was based on the development needs of the region, and was supported by all eleven regional councillors,” Kapenda said. Approached for comment recently, Haufiku emphasised that Ondangwa had breached a resolution passed during the May consultative meeting. “We already put a dead stop to that. I heard that Oshana Regional Council has taken a resolution that is not related to what we initiated earlier,” Haufiku said. He declined to comment further on the issue, ending the call by wryly wishing Ondangwa good luck. Plenty to choose from Ongwediva mayor Angelina Angula confirmed to Namibian Sun that they made their submission on 29 June this year, saying Haufiku acknowledged receiving their proposal. “We allocated them the whole land behind Oshana Mall. It is a big portion of land that went up to the railway line and stretch up to Efidi Proper. We gave them an option to choose where they want,” Angula said. Ondangwa mayor Paavo Amwele said they would stick with the initial offer of land for a district hospital and did not make any new submissions. “There is no need for us to make new submissions. That land was too big and the ministry was only taking a portion for the district hospital. We went to defend our position at State House and since then nothing was communicated to us. If they want us to add more land we can just do it on their request,” Amwele said. The project will be financed through a public-private partnership, Namibian Sun understands. The project will also have a maternity unit and a cardiac unit for children.ILENI NANDJATO

Hospital plan takes new twist

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-13

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Hospital plan takes new twist

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-13

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