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City Press reports that nurses in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) have expressed fear and trepidation over “what is coming” as SA battles to contain the Covid-19 coronavirus.
A shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the consequent rationing of some supplies in the public health sector have left some “even more anxious”. As of Friday, the province had registered 225 Covid-19 infections and six deaths, all six of which had been in private hospitals. The province’s health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu admitted that there was a supply shortage of some PPE in public facilities, but insisted that the hospitals had not “run out” of supplies. Instead, supplies were being rationed. Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital, a private facility in Durban, announced on Friday that three of its patients had died from Covid-19 complications within 72 hours. On Friday, KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala told a press briefing, without mentioning St Augustine’s by name, that 11 nurses at a private hospital had tested positive for the virus. However, all the 11 nurses work at that hospital. Netcare group chief executive Richard Friedland said he was not concerned about the safety of staff who were treating Covid-19 patients because they had comprehensive PPE. It was the nurses and other staff members who might have “inadvertently contracted the illness because the three patients were not considered Covid-19 or patients under investigation” who were a concern. The nurses have been asked to self-isolate at home and four were being provided with private accommodation paid for by Netcare.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Des Erasmus at City Press
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