Business Reporter
THE Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund revealed that it has spent over N$200 million on accident-related costs over the past financial year.
This was shared by the fund’s Chief Operations Officer (COO), Phillip Nghifitikeko, who spoke at a media event on Friday.
He added that MVA, in collaboration with Standard Bank, has also upgraded the Katutura State Hospital’s casualty ward after complaints that most motor vehicle accident victims would be dumped in the causality ward, which is understaffed and under-resourced, leading to overcrowding. In addition to this, the fund has also invested in the training of doctors within the casualty units of hospitals, he said.
The COO further added that right now, the MVA tries to balance the treatment of patients involved in motor vehicle accidents between different health facilities as having everyone treated at a private facility is costly.
Nghifitikeko added that the City of Windhoek (CoW) has availed land near the Hosianna Parish Church to the MVA Fund for the construction of a hospital that caters to the needs of motor vehicle accident victims. He, however, added that the land is too expensive, with N$21 million billed for the availed land.
He thus said that MVA fund is doing a traffic impact assessment as well as assessments on the actual value of the land provided by CoW, adding that they are in the final stages of the inquisition on the land.
Further to this, Nghifitikeko said that a total of N$5 million is budgeted for motor vehicle road safety campaigns and training. The target includes male drivers who are constantly on the road as most accidents affect young productive males. The training includes elements such as defensive driving skills and knowing how to operate a vehicle when a tire burst.
Hilaria Graig, the fund’s Head of Communications, said that the MVA has had several initiatives which ensure road safety in the country. This, she said, is all informed by data retrieved from the call centre, and ranges from subjects such as passenger safety conducted at bus terminals as well as scholar patrols, defensive driving training and community outreach programmes.
Anyone who is involved in a motor vehicle accident can call the toll-free number of the MVA Fund Call Centre, which is 0819682. The 24-hour operating call centre was established to record road crash incidents and to coordinate the dispatching of emergency medical assistance to crash scenes across the country.
