With the country experiencing the third wave of COVID-19, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has employed about 15 000 staff members on a contractual basis to help boost its capacity to fight its spread.
These posts include professional nurses (General); professional nurses (Specialty); staff nurses; nursing assistants; administration clerks; cleaners and porters; physiotherapists; radiographers; clinical psychologists; audiologists; optometrists and data capturers.
“These brave warriors in this war have had to team up with our pre-existing cadre of healthcare workers, and continue to mount a formidable fight to curb the spread of COVID-19. We are eternally grateful to all of them for the courage and determination that they have consistently shown,” KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala said on Wednesday.
The Premier was addressing members of the media in Durban on the infection trends in the province, vaccination and the general state of readiness to deal with the third wave. This media briefing comes after the country was moved to Adjusted Alert Level 4 on Monday as announced by the President on Sunday.
Five districts in the province are on the resurgence including Ethekwini, Uthukela, Umgungundlovu, Amajuba and Umzinyathi.
“It is now a race against the third wave for us in these districts,” Zikalala said.
The latest COVID-19 statistics show that the province registered 483 new cases, bringing the total number of reported cases to 352 401.
The province has 10 532 active cases, while it has registered 10 689 deaths due to the virus. The number of recoveries currently stands at 330 316 people.
“We have reassessed our bed capacity to accommodate patients. The province currently has 2 494 isolation beds, as well as 1 411 quarantine beds that are dedicated to COVID-19.
“These beds will be repurposed if and when the need arises. All in all, our four field hospitals have a total of more than 682 beds,” the Premier said.
Hospitalisation due to COVID-19
As of 28 June 2021, the province had 878 patients admitted in both public and private healthcare facilities. Of those admitted, 143 patients (16%) are in the intensive care unit (ICU), while 168 are on oxygen.
“The department has established bed monitoring centres (bureaus) in all districts, which monitor bed utilization and bed availability. To ensure accuracy of the statistics in this regard, all information is collated and updated on a daily basis,” Zikalala said.
All field hospitals such as Ngwelezane, Justice Gizenga Mpanza (formerly Stanger), Clairwood Hospital, as well as the Pietermaritzburg Royal Show Grounds; have been fully fitted with oxygen, consisting of 361 points.
“The upgrading of oxygen regulators has been completed at some of our regional hospitals, such as Edendale, RK Khan, Madadeni and Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital. Our system has been further boosted by the installation of a web-based Oxygen Cylinder Management and Ordering System. This enables us to ensure that oxygen is ordered timeously, and to avoid the shortages, which can be a matter of life and death,” the Premier said.
The province is also in regular and direct contact with the contracted oxygen supplier, Afrox, to ensure that any threats to the supply of oxygen are identified and resolved early.
“We are confident that the oxygen capacity; oxygen management systems; as well as the contingency measures that we have put in place to avoid shortages, will see us through these tough times.
“We must emphasise though that, although our capacity to implement an effective response is there, it can only be threatened by us lowering our guard and failing to play our part to curb the spread of COVID-19. It is vital that we protect our systems, so that they are not compromised through negligence,” the Premier said.
Source: South African Government News Agency