Members of Parliament have urged amendments to the Mental Health Bill to address delays from Namibia's shortage of psychiatrists, proposing that other trained health workers conduct assessments.

IPC MP John-Louw Mouton highlighted the bottleneck risk, stating, "We have fewer than 10 psychiatrists in this country, and we run the risk of creating a lot of bottlenecks if only psychiatrists can determine mental health status. So I want to implore this house that we add clinical psychologists to this section."

AR MP Tuhafeni Kalola echoed the concern: "Requiring that all determinations of mental health status be made exclusively by psychiatrists creates a strategic bottleneck that will inevitably result in delays."

Health and Social Services Minister Dr. Esperance Luvindao responded positively, agreeing to amend Clause 20: "In the case of forensic mental health patients, as I clarified, due to the nature of forensic patients, it must be a psychiatrist because of what is demanded by the law. In cases involving general mental health patients, health practitioners, including the following, may do an assessment for the diagnosis of mental health status."

PDM MP Inna Hengari raised a separate issue on determining a child's maturity level before discharge from a mental health facility, as outlined in subsection 1 of Section 21(5): "He or she must be immediately discharged if the head of the health facility is still satisfied that the child is of sufficient maturity." She questioned the mechanisms for assessing maturity.

Hengari clarified: "If they are at a level of maturity to make decisions, we are referring to the Child Care and Protection Act of 2015, which makes reference that a child from the age of 14 years old can make medical decisions for themselves."