Thirteen local medical specialists and senior clinical officers will participate in an intensive one-month observational fellowship at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, as part of an expanding healthcare partnership between the two nations.
Speaking at an official send-off ceremony, Khomas Region Governor Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma highlighted the critical role the cohort will play upon their return.
Nujoma noted that the medical team, which includes specialists from several specialisation fields including oncology, radiology, nuclear medicine, and anaesthesiology, among others, carries with them the hopes of the Namibian health sector
“They are going to learn, to observe, and to build the clinical capacity that our nation urgently requires,” he said.
According to Nujoma, the exchange programme takes place against the backdrop of a partnership established in 2015, when the Khomas Region and Jiangsu Province signed the Twinning Agreement that set in motion a decade of cooperation in science and technology, education, culture, health, trade, tourism, agriculture, and human resource development.
That partnership was further strengthened through the Cooperation Framework of October 2023 and the Work Plan of 2024-2028, and it was reaffirmed once more in Nanjing last year, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of our twinning relationship.
“ It is fitting, therefore, that this fellowship programme follows so closely upon the signing, on 31 July 2025, of the Memorandum of Understanding on Health Cooperation between the Jiangsu Health Commission and the Khomas Regional Council. That Memorandum was designed to solidify specialist exchanges, training and capacity building, collaborative research, professional forums, and the strengthening of our health information systems,” he added.
Nujoma noted that through the partnership between Drum Tower Hospital and Windhoek Central Hospital, over 240 Namibians have already had their sight restored through surgeries conducted under the collaboration.
“The government is confident that upon the return from the one-month programme, the team will bring back not only new expertise but also strengthened bonds of professional friendship,” he concluded.
