NDF medical students stranded in Russia, Ukraine

ARMY officers studying medicine in Russia and the Ukraine are financially stranded because their allowances from government have not been paid since March this year.

About 15 students are studying in the two countries to become medical doctors to serve in the planned military hospital in Windhoek. In a letter addressed to the Ombudsman, and seen by The Namibian, the students state that they are struggling to pay rent and for their transport. They said attempts to get feedback from the defence ministry's finance office have only yielded a response that “there was no money”. “When we call them, they hang up, or they tell us to keep waiting. We do not know what to do now,” states the letter. The trainee doctors have also appealled for assistance to the Namibian embassy in Russia, but no reply has been received to date.