The pressure on healthcare services and facilities is growing in the Erongo Region due to an ageing population, staff shortages, and an underdeveloped healthcare system.

During an interview with nbc News, Regional Health Director Anna Jonas says there is an acute lack of proper mental healthcare facilities as well as congested clinics and health centres both in Walvis Bay and Swakopmund districts due to urban migration.

Recently, a 26-year-old mentally unstable male patient was admitted to the Swakopmund State Hospital for mental treatment.

It is alleged that the patient set hospital properties such as beds, bedsheets, and mattresses on fire with a match, which resulted in the mental ward being partly damaged by the fire.

It is further alleged that the patient first demanded his release to go home from the nurse who was on duty, but when she refused to give in to his demand, he allegedly went back to the ward where he was admitted and set it on fire.

"Mental health issues are real, but as a region, we don't have a mental health unit. I think the only mental health that we really have is in Windhoek, so for you to be able to refer a patient from here to Windhoek, you first need to sedate them before you need to transport them. At some points, we also might have two or three patients that need to be admitted in the strong room, and we don't have those facilities."

She says police and Swakopmund Municipality firefighter officials were summoned to the scene and successfully managed to extinguish the fire.

No fatalities or injuries were recorded.

The value of the damage caused by the fire in the building has not yet been determined.