Dhlomo warns of Covid-19 pandemic’s long-term psychosocial impact on SA

Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo being screened by sister Vanessa Pillay during a visit to St. Augustine Hospital in Durban. Picture: Bongani Mbatha/African News Agency(ANA)

Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo being screened by sister Vanessa Pillay during a visit to St. Augustine Hospital in Durban. Picture: Bongani Mbatha/African News Agency(ANA)

Published Mar 14, 2021

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The Chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, has expressed concern over the long-term psychological impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on ordinary South Africans and urged them to seek help to navigate this impact.

“South Africans must not underestimate the impact of Covid-19 on individuals, families and society. Some of the psychosocial issues are going to remain with us for some time and therefore people must not underestimate this impact.

“They must seek to be closer to social workers, psychologists and faith-based individuals who can assist them to navigate these challenges,” he said.

Dhlomo also said that Covid-19 has opened up the country and healthcare system to a range of challenges including the budget, fighting corruption and building a state-owned pharmaceutical company.

Speaking on the one-year anniversary since Patient Zero was admitted to hospital in Durban, Dhlomo said this has been a journey and a wake-up call for the country.

“This week, on Tuesday, in Parliament I read a statement that was saying that exactly one year ago the first patient was admitted at Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg,” said Dhlomo.

He said a year later there had been a large number of people infected with the coronavirus.

No one has been left unscathed, with infections standing at 1.5 million and mortalities at over 51 000. Fortunately, 94% of the people who contracted the virus have recovered.

When Covid-19 hit the country and lockdown regulations were implemented, trauma units in some hospitals were empty because people were not drinking.

This when the government banned the sale of alcohol to prevent the health-care system from being overwhelmed.

“There were times when our hospitals were empty because our people were not drinking alcohol. We now know South Africa without alcohol. The challenge in South Africa is that those who drink, drink excessively,” said Dhlomo.

He said Covid-19 had added a burden to the already overstretched health-care system. Under-staffing was a problem and Covid-19 stretched the department further.

“This is related to the budget we have,” he said, adding that this had been the main issue in the fight against Covid-19.

There were questions asked when trying to strike a balance in the system.

“Do you forgo hiring new nurses to buy a new ambulance, maybe yes. There have been some difficulties. As the oversight committee we understood some of their challenges,” said Dhlomo.

He said they also noted the issue of corruption. Corruption took away money that could have been used in other areas, said Dhlomo.

They were happy when the issue of corruption around personal protective equipment (PPE) was raised in the public domain.

“Some of the PPE tenders were picked up when the tenders were about to be awarded,” he said, adding some of the corruption was reported by officials.

He said action must be taken against those implicated in corruption.

“Anybody who has been found with their hand in the cookie jar must be brought to book. I want to say we want to reduce corruption,” said Dhlomo.

He said the government must establish a state-owned pharmaceutical company that would be able to produce vaccines.

This was an ANC resolution taken at its conference 10 years ago.

The pharmaceutical company could produce antiretrovirals (ARVs) because South Africa was the biggest consumer of ARVs in the world.

“I think we are really behind. We should be running with this. This is the resolution of the ANC 10 years ago,” said Dhlomo.

Speaking about the Budget that was allocated by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in February, Dhlomo said health, education and social services were among the departments that got a big slice.

“From one big slice more than 35% has gone to social services,” said the chairperson.

He said there was a need for national health insurance (NHI) in the country.

The National Health Insurance programme had not been left behind, Dhlomo said. In fact, the pandemic had exposed the need for universal health coverage.

According to studies, most South Africans rely on the public health facilities to access health care.

During the public hearings conducted by the portfolio committee on the NHI, the need for the programme became clear, said Dhlomo.

“Our public hearings exposed NHI as a public good,” he said.

During the pandemic it also became clear that not everybody could be accommodated by the private health sector.

Dhlomo commended the work done by South African scientists over the issue of AstraZeneca. The government had decided not to use AstraZeneca because of its low efficacy rate against the Covid-19 variant.

“We are commending our scientists who came in and said ‘don’t use this AstraZeneca because its efficacy is low’,” he said.

He said the disease had affected everyone and he paid tribute to the families of those who had died after contracting Covid-19.

This was a new disease and a new outbreak that had engulfed the country, he said.

* Read more in the special Insider supplement which can be found in the Sunday Independent, Sunday Tribune and Weekend Argus newspapers today.