Breweries assist state eye clinic The Windhoek Central Hospital last week received an equipment donation from Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL), worth close to N$1 million.The local brewer sponsored the hospital with a new, state-of-the-art Zeiss Visucam, used to evaluate patients affected by diabetic eye disease and age-related macular degeneration.
At a handover ceremony in Windhoek on Friday, NBL national marketing manager Rosemary Shippiki commended the Ministry of Health and Social Services, the hospital and the doctors who would use the equipment, for the work they did on a daily basis.
“Eye specialists Dr Helena Ndume and Dr Sven Obholzer are both strong beacons of hope, they provide hope for many Namibians with visual problems,” Shippiki said.
“They provide a new and meaningful life to all their patients whose vision they restore. We are proud and very happy to be able to add to the abilities of these doctors at the Windhoek Central Hospital Eye Clinic,” she said.
Accepting the donation on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, permanent secretary Dr Andreas Mwoombala thanked the company for the gesture and referred to the government''s difficulty in acquiring all the latest medical equipment needed to effectively treat patients.
“Namibia has many people with visual problems, and high technological equipment is very expensive,” Mwoombala said.
“This donation will go a long way in adding great value to the work this clinic does, and to the lives affected.”
Also speaking at the event was Dr Ndume, who emphasised the importance of private-public partnerships in achieving national development goals.
“We have been eyeing this machine for a long-time, but were unfortunately unable to afford it. With the realisation that government cannot do it alone due to the number of critical health matters and competing priorities on hand, we decided to take it a step further by approaching other entities for assistance,” she said.
DENVER ISAACS