The Ministry of Works and Transport has expressed satisfaction with the progress made with the renovation of the Katutura Intermediate Hospital.
Executive Director Esther Kaapanda visited the hospital on Friday to assess the progress of the renovations.
Katutura State Hospital was built in 1973, and the hospital has over the years experienced dilapidation, punctuated by holes in the roof, damaged walls, windows, and floors, blocked toilets, and rampant rodents, among others.
It is against this background that the government allocated N$40 million for the hospital's renovations.
"Out of the N$40 million, we have spent N$10 million, and we have paid the various contractors who were appointed on different floors, and we were paying them as per the satisfactory completion of a particular maintenance once it is certified by our inspectors. Like I said, this is a testimony to the government's commitment to ensuring that we extend the life span of government buildings, and we can only do so when we maintain them," said Kaapanda.
The Executive Director inspected the third and fourth floors, where major renovations, such as the fixing of damaged walls, ceilings, doors, and windows, were carried out. New lights and lamps have also been installed, while the ablution facilities have also been renovated.
"As the Ministry of Works, we are definitely happy with the progress that has been made here in terms of the execution rate and implementation rate of this maintenance. We are very happy with the work done by different contractors. We are not complaining because we continue to work hand in hand and the contractors are not left at their own mercy."
Kaapanda says the aim of the hospital's significant transformation is to enhance healthcare services for the community and restore the dignity of patients who receive treatment there.
"The reason we are doing this maintenance is, first of all, to bring dignity to our people who are being treated here. We are also making our contribution to employment creation because the various contractors doing the maintenance are young people who have graduated from TVET, so we are playing our role to contribute to employment creation."
She says the renovations to the hospital are expected to be completed by June this year.
"So we could not make the significant progress we anticipated, like completing in March, just because of the inability to relocate patients from one floor to another because the hospital is very busy."
The Katutura State Hospital is an eight-story building. Six of those floors are being renovated by the Ministry of Works, while the other two are being repaired by a contractor of the Ministry of Health and Social Services.