The old, the disabled and the young, all have to endure long queues to obtain their medicine at the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital pharmacy in Oshana region. Some patients wait as long as 10 hours, while some go home without their medicine. The queues spill over into the corridors, with people patiently waiting to be served. It is late afternoon and these people have been at the hospital all day, with not even the disabled being spared. An old age pensioner from Oshikoto region, who is blind, has been waiting patiently for her medication since early morning and 10 hours later, she is still waiting. How soon the situation will improve is anybody's guess. For now, the pharmacy serves about 1 500 patients daily, with only four pharmacists and two assistants to do the job. Also, the tablets are counted by hand because the machines are broken, further adding to the slow service. The Ministry was unavailable to comment on what measures are being taken to improve this, as it has been ongoing for some time now.