Debmarine Namibia donates medical equipment to Onandjokwe
Date Posted: 07 May 2021
Debmarine Namibia donated endoscopy equipment worth N$ 1,3 million to Onandjokwe Intermediate Hospital.
Remarks by Debmarine Namibia Chief Executive Officer Otto Shikongo during the handover of medical equipment to the Onandjokwe State Hospital
Honourable Governor of Oshikoto Region - Mr Penda Ya Ndakolo
Hounorable Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services - Dr. Esther Muinjangue
His Worship the Mayor of the Town of Oniipa – Mr David Kambode
Honourable Councillor of the Oniipa Constituency Oshikoto Regional Council – Mr Vilho Nuunyango
Oshikoto Health Director – Mr. Joshua Nghipangelwa
Onandjokwe Medical Superintendent - Dr Akutu Munyika
Esteemed front line heroes and heroines of the Medical Fraternity present here
Our Friends from the Media
Distinguished invited guests
Ladies and gentlemen!
Good morning – and thank you very much for joining us at this auspicious occasion.
Our business at Debmarine Namibia is about using highly advanced state-of-the-art engineering marvels to recovery marine diamonds from the mighty Atlantic Ocean at depths of up to 150 meters deep. We do this without being able to see the diamonds on the ocean floor with our naked eyes, and without touching a single diamond with bare hands. I mention this because to demonstrate our experience, reliance and appreciation of the power and benefit of technology. We live by our purpose ‘Make Life Brilliant’ which is fuelled by our ambition to be the beacon of mining excellence. Our approach is simple, to recover diamonds safely and sustainably, whilst building a lasting positive legacy. The latter, is why I am standing here before you.
Partnering for Thriving Communities is one of our Building Forever social investment pillars. Through this pillar, we seek ways in which we can partner with our communities to generate real and lasting benefits for our country in the areas of - health and wellbeing, skills and education, and livelihoods addressing socio-economic needs. Despite our annual contribution to Government, our social responsibility agenda facilitated through our social investment fund focuses on broad based community needs identified and received, throughout the country.
Our partnership history with the Ministry of Health and Social Services spans over seven years:
- It started in 2006 and 2007 when we sponsored renovation upgrades to the Katutura Hospital Centre for Disease Control Clinic.
- In 2014, Debmarine Namibia made a five (5) year commitment towards the Ministry of Health and Social Services in support of the National Suicide Prevention programme countrywide. The suicide prevention initiatives aim to bring a decrease in suicide cases which are increasing at a concerning rate. That commitment was renewed for another term.
- In 2018, we sponsored a clean-up campaign at the Oshakati Intermediate Hospital complete with a donation of cleaning equipment and made a pledge to renovate the dialysis centre and preparations for this project are underway.
- In 2020, Debmarine Namibia supported Government’s efforts to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic through a sponsorship investment of medical equipment and maintenance of two Covid-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing equipment, procured through De Beers’ shareholder global supply chain system, valued at over N$8 million. We partnered with the University Of Namibia School Of Medicine - Hage Geingob Campus to manage and conduct the tests, following formal licencing process facilitated by the Ministry of Health.
- A month ago, we completed renovations to the women’s ward of the Windhoek Central Hospital Mental Health Unit, which consisted of general maintenance repair work such as plumbing, electrical works, water, ceilings and so forth.
Today, following our quest to contribute towards the improvement of our country’s medical system, we are fulling the 2019 request from the Ministry of Health and Social Services, with the procurement of this N$1.3 million Endoscopy Medical Equipment for the Onandjokwe State Hospital.
We are glad to be able to in our own humble way, support Government’s efforts in providing health care to our people and to ensure their social welfare including the weak and vulnerable members of our society.
We at Debmarine Namibia believe that a healthy workforce is a productive workforce and a healthy nation is prosperous nation.
With this few words ladies and gentlemen I am confident that this equipment will be used appropriately and that health services for our people will be improved as a result.