Zorena Jantze
A 39-YEAR-OLD woman, identified as Sara Tsam, was allegedly stabbed by her brother and failed to receive assistance from the police or the Okaukuejo Clinic situated within Etosha National Park after being told that the ambulance in the area is not allowed to drive out to pick up patients in the event of a distress call.
This was revealed by Eveline !Aochamus, a relative of Tsam.
!Aochamus explained that Tsam was allegedly stabbed by her older brother, who is mentally ill, on 03 July 2024, around 15:00 hours above her eye.
“She lost a lot of blood. We called the police, but the police said their car is broken. They added that while they are in the area for anti-poaching activities, they would have helped if they had a car. We called the clinic, and the person in charge at Okaukuejo Clinic said that they are not allowed to drive out to pick up patients. The ambulance is not allowed; however, Ombika gate, where we reside, is 17 km away from the Okaukuejo clinic. We told him that the woman is losing a lot of blood, and it would be impractical to hitchhike with her. We were, however, not given a reason as to why the ambulance is not allowed to respond to a distress call. We wanted to know since when is this the case?” !Aochamus questioned.
She added that if this is the new status quo, the ambulance stationed at Okaukuejo Clinic should be sent back to the government.
“There was fortunately one man who felt sorry for us and came to our assistance. He offered to drive the victim to the Okaukuejo Clinic, where she received medical attention and some of the bottle’s fragments were removed from her head. Sara was stabbed above her eye. She has been discharged but goes for dressing every day,” !Aochamus said.
She added that this is not the first incident where residents are denied public health services such as the provision of ambulances. A pregnant woman was also turned down on 11 June 2024, when she was in labour.
“We had to find a lift in order to get to the clinic,” !Aochamus said.
Walters Kamaya, Public Relations Officer within the Ministry of Health and Social Services, responding to the complaints, explained that the Okaukuejo Clinic recently held a meeting in which it was decided that the ambulance would only respond to emergencies. He added that the community in the area believes the ambulance will pick up every sick person from their home. He added that listed emergencies include car accidents or incidents where women go into labour.
In October 2023, the Executive Director within the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Ben Nangombe, said that the lack of ambulances is a critical resource deficit in the public health sector, with the ministry depending on 96 functional ambulances nationwide.
