Walvis Bay Hospital has received a N$20 million mobile intensive care unit from the US government.

The fully equipped five-bed Intensive Care Unit is self-sufficient with its own power, water, and sewage systems to allow it to operate independently in the field. 

The ICU is also stocked with N$600,000 worth of medicine to ensure its immediate operation.

The ICU is the first of four donations that will be installed across Namibia in the coming months.

"These donations include a second five-bed ICU in Otjiwarongo, as well as two field hospitals in Outapi and Katima Mulilo that include a 30-bed Negative Pressure Isolation Facility and a UN Level 1 Urgent Care Clinic. These donations will total over N$128 million in value and represent the largest single humanitarian assistance donation to date to the Namibian people," says the US Embassy's Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, Tiffany Miller.

The Health and Social Services Ministry has been enhancing the ICU capacity at public health facilities, and the donation is considered a boost in the government's quest.

Its Executive Director, Ben Nangombe, says the ministry discovered during the COVID-19 pandemic that there were only 23 ICU beds in public hospitals across Namibia.

"With the installation of ICU capacity here, it means that instead of having to refer patients from here to Windhoek, they can be treated here. There is a risk when you have to transport a patient who needs ICU care, put them in an ambulance that is not fully adequate, and send them on a long trip on a bumpy road. Anything can happen there, so the best is to provide the service locally, and that's what we are trying to do here with the donation."

To further address the shortfall in ICU beds, the ministry has decided to install ICUs in all 34 district hospitals in the country, and the initiative will be funded by the government. 

Nangombe indicated that the mobile ICU will further boost the skills and knowledge of the workforce as they decentralise the service to the patients.