diff --git a/src/openultrasast/plane/reconciler.py b/src/openultrasast/plane/reconciler.py
index 377392d..aeaad4b 100644
--- a/src/openultrasast/plane/reconciler.py
+++ b/src/openultrasast/plane/reconciler.py
@@ -469,8 +469,10 @@ def _pods_ready(namespace: str, context: str) -> tuple[bool, str]:
     ok, out = _sh("kubectl", "--context", context, "-n", namespace, "get", "pods", "--no-headers")
     if not ok or not out:
         return False, out or "no pods"
-    rows = [line.split() for line in out.splitlines()]
-    bad = [r[0] for r in rows if len(r) > 2 and r[2] not in ("Completed", "Succeeded") and r[1].split("/")[0] != r[1].split("/")[-1]]
+    rows = [r for r in (line.split() for line in out.splitlines()) if len(r) > 2 and re.fullmatch(r"\d+/\d+", r[1])]
+    if not rows:  # "No resources found" is not a ready namespace
+        return False, f"no pods in {namespace}"
+    bad = [r[0] for r in rows if r[2] not in ("Completed", "Succeeded") and r[1].split("/")[0] != r[1].split("/")[1]]
     return not bad, f"not ready: {', '.join(bad)}" if bad else f"{len(rows)} pods ready"
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_plane_reconciler.py b/tests/test_plane_reconciler.py
index 9ee7321..a1b3dfb 100644
--- a/tests/test_plane_reconciler.py
+++ b/tests/test_plane_reconciler.py
@@ -483,3 +483,16 @@ def test_elapsed_polling_is_paced(fake: Fake, tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytes
     started = time.monotonic()
     assert reconciler.run(write_run(tmp_path, "paced", PAIR.replace("{serialize}", "")), ax=str(fake.ax)) == "done"
     assert time.monotonic() - started >= 0.4, "three polls of x plus one of y at 0.1s each"
+
+
+def test_doctor_treats_an_empty_namespace_as_not_ready(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    """kubectl's "No resources found" must not read as one ready pod (a plausible-zero instrument failure)."""
+    from openultrasast.plane import reconciler
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(reconciler, "_sh", lambda *a: (True, "No resources found in ax-system namespace."))
+    ok, text = reconciler._pods_ready("ax-system", "kind-ousast")
+    assert not ok and "no pods" in text
+    monkeypatch.setattr(reconciler, "_sh", lambda *a: (True, "a-1 1/1 Running 0 1m\nb-2 0/1 Completed 0 1m"))
+    assert reconciler._pods_ready("ns", "ctx") == (True, "2 pods ready")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(reconciler, "_sh", lambda *a: (True, "a-1 0/1 Running 0 1m"))
+    assert reconciler._pods_ready("ns", "ctx")[0] is False