Oshakati Hospital is facing challenges in treating, caring for, and monitoring psychiatric patients.

The situation has necessitated the Governor of Oshana to intervene by donating basic commodities and promising more assistance and collaboration as officials call for a stand-alone psychiatric hospital in Oshakati.

About 200 psychiatric patients are admitted to the hospital, and the health officials are complaining that they are not only facing challenges in caring for them but are also unable to satisfy their personal needs and keep them positively occupied. 

For this reason, the Governor of Oshana donated basic goods such as cosmetics, soccer balls, music players, hair clippers and blood pressure monitors to keep mentally challenged patients occupied to dissuade them from unwarranted behaviour associated with mentally challenged patients. 

The governor paid the hospital a visit a few months ago, and on Tuesday, he was in time to deliver some of the goods needed by these special patients.

"These are our brothers and sisters, so we need to keep them busy. Some of them are just a bit mentally challenged, but they are still human beings. So they are there; they can keep themselves busy." 

The Acting Regional Director at the Oshakati Hospital, Albert Ndahalele, reiterated the call to the government, specifically the Ministry of Health and Social Services, that there is a need for a stand-alone psychiatry hospital separate from the Oshakati hospital to properly care for the treatment and monitoring of mentally challenged patients.

"As a ministry, we need a stand-alone psychiatric facility in Oshana. That's the major challenge/problem the ministry needs to address. At the psychiatric ward, we need surveillance cameras to assist nurses and doctors in monitoring patients. Now nurses have to run around to see who's beating others or doing something. If we have cameras, we can assist doctors and nurses. That's the major issue that the ministry needs to address." 

The Oshakati Hospital is the largest referral hospital in northern Namibia, which has numerous sections, including the psychiatric ward. 

They need specific treatment and care, and it is almost impossible, officials say, to attend to their needs in an overcrowded environment, as some tend to be aggressive or timid. 

The doctors and nurses are sometimes in danger from the situation they cannot control, and sometimes the patients are a danger to themselves and others.