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Health centers are under immense pressure due to staff shortages and the department is on a hiring drive to secure the services of more nurses.
Snorkel masks protect healthcare personnel at Tygerberg Hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic. Image: Government of the Western Cape.
CAPE TOWN – The Western Cape continues to manage the highest number of active cases in the country and cannot afford to allow more people to become infected.
The province is also facing a growing number of cases among frontline healthcare workers.
Seventy-four healthcare workers have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 in the past two weeks, and 800 more are confirmed to be infected and isolated in their homes.
The province’s chief of health, Dr. Keith Cloete, said medical staff continued to work tirelessly even when their own lives were at stake.
“We currently have more than 800 of our health workers actively infected. So, they are isolating themselves at home. Unfortunately, 74 of them had to be hospitalized in the last 14 days, ”said Cloete.
Sadly, eight of those workers lost their lives.
Health centers are under immense pressure due to staff shortages and the department is on a hiring drive to secure the services of more nurses.
Cloete said it expects to employ 1,200 contract workers in the coming weeks.
“There are approximately 411 employees who are available immediately. Over the next week, we hope to bring additional staff online and by the first week of January, we are trying to hit the target number, ”he said.
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