Durban - AS THE number of positive cases of the
coronavirus rises in South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal is preparing more hospitals
to receive, isolate and treat infected
patients.
On Tuesday the confirmed coronavirus cases in South Africa rose to 554
It has been alleged that in one night, health workers started transforming an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH), to start receiving patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus in KwaZulu-Natal.
The hospital was apparently expected to receive its first positive tested patient, from King Dinuzulu Hospital.
A nurse at IALCH, who asked not to be named, said she heard that the ICU was cleared out on Friday night and those patients were moved to another ICU. She said their main concern was that nurses were not as prepared for the coronavirus as they were with Ebola a few years ago.
“With Ebola there was a plan. They even told us about how the patient was going to enter the hospital from the helipad, after arriving by helicopter, and how the patient would be transported inside the hospital without being exposed to other patients. There was a special route, straight to the isolation ward. Even protective gear arrived, we saw it and we were told how to wear it.
“But with coronavirus, we are unprepared,” she said.
Nomakiki Majola, a member of the provincial legislature and chairperson of the health portfolio committee, did not confirm or deny these claims.
IALCH is a tertiary hospital that deals with critical cases that are referred by regional and district hospitals.
“When we said we have four identified hospitals (Grey’s, Addington, Ngwelezana and Manguzi hospitals), that was an initial plan,” said Majola.
She said there should not be a hospital that could not cater for coronavirus cases, because all hospitals had an isolation ward. “In the worst-case scenario, when the four identified hospitals are full, the minister has said not a single hospital should not be ready to deal with the admission of patients with the coronavirus,” she said.
Majola said based on what happened in China, the province could not bank on the four hospitals, with the limited resources as far as beds were concerned in the isolation wards.
Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-
Zulu said four hospitals were not enough and they had added more hospitals. She said in every district they had identified a number of facilities that would be used to treat the coronavirus.
In the uMgungundlovu District, they had added two more hospitals - Doris Goodwin Hospital in Msunduzi and Richmond Hospital.
In eThekwini, Clairwood Hospital was identified as the additional hospital, with more than 50 isolation beds.
“In the Amajuba District, we’ve identified Niemeyer Hospital - they don’t have a lot of patients, so we’re going to be moving them to another facility within the district. We will use the hospital just for isolation,” said Simelane-Zulu.
“In addition, some private hospitals in KZN have agreed to open their wards and beds, free of charge, should a large-scale outbreak occur in the province.”