Durban - CONCERNS have been raised after more health workers tested positive for Covid-19, this time at a Durban public hospital.
Over recent weeks it was widely reported that nearly 80 health workers and patients had tested positive for Covid-19 at Netcare hospitals St Augustine’s and Kingsway.
It is now alleged that at least four nurses at Addington Hospital have tested positive for Covid-19.
Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA provincial secretary Mandla Shabangu said they had been informed there were cases of health workers at an Addington theatre testing positive.
“We have since learnt that positive cases have been confirmed there, and that all theatre users have been tested to establish how far the virus has spread, which we really appreciate, and health workers are waiting for results,” he said.
Shabangu said their main concern was that the new lockdown rules in Durban meant that all positive cases in the metro would not be allowed to self-isolate, meaning they must all be admitted to hospital.
They were also concerned that Covid-19-positive health workers would have to be admitted and cared for by other health workers, leaving a gap on the floor.
“To us, it means they will further deplete the already depleted human resources to nurse the health workers who are positive,” said Shabangu.
“We therefore request that the national Department of Health intervene immediately in supporting KZN to employ more, otherwise our death rate will not drop, because of a poor health system with not enough health workers.”
Health Department spokesperson Ntokozo Maphisa said that in cases where health workers might be infected, the government was obliged to provide the necessary care and treatment.
Mapping and tracing of their contacts was also conducted so that they, too, could be screened and tested to curb the spread of the virus.
“The affected section of the hospital may be closed to allow for decontamination as part of the infection and prevention and control process.
"This is a normal procedure that applies to health-care workers and facilities across the board, including those at Addington Hospital,” said Maphisa.
A nurse at a Durban public hospital said they had been told over the weekend that Addington nurses had tested positive for Covid-19.
She said although details were not clear, it is believed they might have contracted the virus via patients who had been taken to theatre. All theatre cases were thereafter taken to other hospitals.
The Addington theatre was expected to be operational again on Monday.