[ad_1]
- The district attorney has launched a challenge in Superior Court against the beach closures in the Garden Route district, saying it is not consistent with scientific evidence and cannot be enforced.
- This, as public and private hospitals across the province suffer a large number of Covid-19 cases and admissions.
- Bed space in the ICU is at a premium, and private patients are transferred to state hospitals.
As the district attorney prepares to challenge the Garden Route beach closures in the Western Cape Superior Court, the province’s healthcare system approaches a crisis with the availability of ICU beds at some hospitals near full occupancy and private patients are transferred to state hospitals.
The province has entered its second wave of Covid-19 with a number of daily infections that has increased more than what has been seen in the pandemic. Hospitals are getting to the point of being overwhelmed.
Private hospitals in popular Garden Route vacation spots such as Plettenberg Bay, Knysna and Mossel Bay are near full capacity, with reports of a lack of critical Covid-19 ventilators in the area.
READ | DA goes to court in attempt to overturn government shutdown decision
Patients have been flown to Cape Town due to lack of bed capacity in the ICU.
But some city hospitals have also reached full capacity, and private patients have been transferred to Karl Bremer Hospital, a government hospital, in Bellville.
According to data released by the Western Cape Health Department on Tuesday, a marked increase in Covid-19 cases had pushed infection figures well beyond the peak of the first wave.
As a result of this resurgence, hospitals in the Cape Town metropolis were operating at an average occupancy rate of 78%, while rural hospitals were operating at an average occupancy rate of 91%.
READ | All new rules for December: nearby beaches, alcohol restrictions, curfews
“Covid and PUI cases (patients waiting for Covid-19 test results) account for 13% of hospital admissions in the metro and 16% of hospital admissions in rural areas, both of which are increasing daily.
“The key message is that hospitalizations are rapidly heading toward levels seen at the peak of the first wave. We must also bear in mind that this time, we do not have the protection of a lockdown or an alcohol ban,” the department said.
As of Tuesday, 1,733 Covid-19 patients were admitted to acute hospitals, both public and private.
In response to News24’s questions, the department moved to allay fears that government facilities were experiencing ICU bed shortages.
The data that was provided indicates that out of 332 “critical care beds” in six hospitals, only 80 Covid-19 patients were admitted.
The data does not cut through the occupancy of beds by patients who are not positive for Covid-19, which increases the tension.
Pressure
On Friday, Fin24 reported that Life Healthcare hospitals in the Eastern Cape and within the Garden Route were “… under significant pressure.
“[They] they are approaching their full capacity to accommodate patients while continuing to provide essential services such as maternity and emergencies for other patients, “said Group Emergency Medicine General Manager Charl van Loggerenberg.
The group has already taken steps to stop elective surgeries at its hospitals in the Eastern Cape.
According to statistics from the Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital in the city center, 20 of the 27 available ventilators were in use, 20 Covid-19 positive patients admitted to the ICU, and another 18 in general wards.
SEE | Crowd mocks Covid-19 rules in concert in Cape Town
While the group’s chief executive, Richard Friedland, deferred specific questions and data requests to the Health Department, he said they have seen a “significant” increase in cases in the Western Cape.
“While we are beginning to see a plateau in the admission of Covid-19 patients to our hospitals in the Eastern Cape, we have seen a significant increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the hotspot areas of KwaZulu-Natal and the western Cape, and starting in Gauteng, where we expect admissions to increase further as tourists return to the province from access points along the coast. ”
“It is also worrying that we are seeing more serious cases in the second wave,” he added.
The rising tide of Covid-19 cases and hospital admissions has seen the sick move between state and private hospitals because beds are running out.
READ | Covid-19 resurgence in the Western Cape
A doctor, who spoke to News24 on condition of anonymity, said patients from a private hospital had been transferred to Karl Bremer State Hospital in Bellville.
Furthermore, the source said, elective surgeries in private hospitals had stalled.
cut
With the health sector in the province shaken, the district attorney on Thursday launched an injunction to challenge the Garden Route beach closures.
They asked the court to declare that the regulations on beach closures on the Garden Route are unconstitutional, illegal and invalid.
This followed an announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that due to the high transmission rates of Covid-19 in the South Cape, the area would be declared a hotspot and, as a result, the beaches would be closed between December 16 and January 3.
“The district attorney and our governments in the Western Cape coastal municipalities have fought vehemently against any beach closures during the holiday season, as such regulation is not in line with available scientific advice from medical experts and is impossible to enforce, “said the party leader. John Steenhuisen said.
Western Cape Health MEC, Nomafrench Mbombo, said bed space was becoming an increasingly scarce commodity and intensive care beds, vital for treating those most severely affected by the pathogen, were destined to be overwhelmed.
This, he said, informed a partnership between private hospital groups in the province to share the burden.
National Health Department spokesman Lwazi Manzi did not respond to requests for comment.
