Johannesburg – Covid-19 has wreaked havoc with the lives of many South Africans but for Lebohang Nkoana, a nurse on the frontline at Thelle Mogoerane Hospital in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, going to work means staring death in the face daily.
Not only has Nkoana recovered from Covid-19, lost colleagues to it and continually dealt with the stigma from family, friends and the community, he also had to contend with no salary increase while he and other nurses fought to keep infected patients alive.
At some point, they downed tools for two days when they realised that they didn’t have enough information on the deadly virus and neither had they been provided with enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs).
March 5 marks a year since the National Institute for Communicable Diseases confirmed South Africa’s first case of Covid-19. The patient was a 38-year-old man who travelled to Italy with his wife. They were part of a group of 10 people who had arrived back in South Africa on March 1, 2020.
“When Covid-19 came, no one knew what to expect,” says Nkoana.
“It was devastating because we were already short-staffed. At first, we were resistant. We did not want to work with Covid-19 patients
“We were just using normal non-sterile gloves. Then we stopped working for two days as we did not want to risk our lives and also because we were not fully informed about the disease.”
Nkoana, who is also a branch secretary for the Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa and has been a nurse for eight years, said the past year was the “most devastating period of my life”.
“There was no PPE, no increment, nothing. I had to use what I had at my disposal to protect myself and render a service.
“I went into a Covid ward to save lives, but in the process, exposed myself.”
At some point, Nkoana contracted Covid-19 and also lost 19 colleagues to it. As that wasn’t bad enough, he said, when he knocks off and returns to his community, everyone assumes that he has Covid-19 and stigmatises him.
“No one can work during a pandemic and expect positive outcomes. I go to work every day like a zombie. The department may have all systems in place like the Employee Wellness Program but that is not effective. I need therapy. I lost colleagues and had to deal with stigma,” he said.
Nkoana, who has two children aged five years and 8-months, said the biggest fear all this time has not him dying but infecting his wife who may then die.
“I am not scared for myself, because as a nurse, I took an oath. I am scared for my children. If I bring the virus home and it kills my wife, who will take care of our children?”