STAFF WRITER
Namibia has launched the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the management of complaints at facilities within the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Speaking at the launch on Wednesday health minister, Esperance Luvindao said the document is a roadmap that will guide the ministry toward a more transparent, responsive, and accountable public health system.
This SOP establishes a clear, hierarchical triage system that ensures complaints are assessed by risk and urgency in different categories
Category 1 for critical/high risk deals with any allegation of abuse, negligence, or a death linked to care which now needs to be notified to the Facility Head immediately and escalated to Senior Management within 24 hours.
Category 2 and 3 will address the service delivery issues that affect the daily experience of our people, waiting times, cleanliness, and administrative delays.
Luvoindao said the SOP mandates that every complaint be documented, acknowledged, and resolved within specific timelines.
“By channeling complaints to the correct office, starting with the Customer Care Officer at the facility level, then moving to the District, the Region, and finally the National level, we ensure that those closest to the problem are empowered and held accountable to fix it,” she said.
She said the launch will be followed by a virtual training session on the Clinical and Death Audit Guidelines and the SOP for Patient/Client Satisfaction Assessment,.
“The training sessions are the essential first steps in ensuring that the words on these pages become the actions of our hands. As we launch this SOP, we must speak with the courage of honesty. For too long, the headlines in our national media have painted a distressed picture of our public health institutions,” Luvindao said.
She said the Standard Operating Procedure for the Management of Complaints is a definitive answer to systemic gaps.
“For too long, our complaints management has been fragmented. Issues that should have been resolved at the ward level were often escalated directly to the Executive Director or the Minister, simply because there was no clear, trusted pathway for resolution. This over- escalation diverts attention from strategic oversight and reflects a lack of confidence in local systems,” she said.
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