Durban - The demand for treatment of Covid-19 patients is increasing and according to Jacques du Plessis, managing director of Netcare’s hospital division, now more than ever before, every person should play their part in fighting against the pandemic.
Du Plessis said as a group, Netcare understood that the public was concerned about hospital capacity.
"Given the recent surge in Covid-19 cases and some fake news that has been circulating on social media about certain hospitals closing and that patients were being turned away from some emergency departments, we can confirm that Netcare hospitals are experiencing a significant increase in the demand for treatment of Covid-19 patients, particularly in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng," he said.
Du Plessis said Netcare currently had capacity in their hospitals for both Covid-19 and other patients in needing critical care and those who needed to be put in general wards.
He said it should be noted that not all patients admitted with Covid-19 or as persons under investigation (PUIs) for COVID-19 require care in critical care units (ICUs or high care units), ventilation or oxygen.
"The situation remains extremely fluid and we expect demand to escalate further in the coming weeks. We are therefore continuously assessing the demand for hospitalisation of Covid-19 patients, PUIs and other patients in order to manage resources effectively in a rapidly changing world.
"We have contingency plans in place that ensure that should a situation present where one of our hospitals do not have capacity at a given time, patients would be transported to and treated in another of our hospitals which does have capacity,” he added.
Du Plessis explained that, in certain instances, for example where a hospital experiences an unexpected staff shortfall, the facility may be temporarily placed “on divert” for emergencies, in which case emergency medical services providers are notified and other hospitals in the area provide cover where needed.
"I would like to reiterate a message that we give to our staff almost daily and that is that their resilience and commitment demonstrated since the outbreak of Covid-19 in South Africa, often in the face of great uncertainty, has been humbling. Netcare values the tremendous contribution of our staff at the frontline, and would like to express our deep and heartfelt gratitude to all our nurses, doctors, other healthcare workers, support staff and contract service providers for their incredible efforts under these unprecedented and challenging circumstances," he said.
Du Plessis said the responsibility now lay with every South African to maintain safe practices in to minimise the risk of the virus spreading.
"Regular washing of hands with soap and water or cleaning them with an alcohol-based spray or gel, keeping a distance of at least a metre from others, wearing a mask in the correct way when in public areas for example when jogging, shopping, travelling using public transport or in the company of others, refraining from visiting or being visited by family and friends and disinfecting any surfaces being touched regularly remain the most important in preventing the spread of Covid-19. These are actions every person can take for their own protection and that of others, especially those who are vulnerable,” he concluded.