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By Lee Rondganger 
December 30, 2020
Durban – The KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu has launched itself against the people who are “sowing the seeds of panic and fear” in the bed capacity of the province’s hospitals, vehemently denying that they are they have run out of beds and the morgues are full.
Addressing the media during a webinar on Wednesday, Simelane-Zulu said that people have even digitally manipulated audiovisual material and shared it online to present a false image that the government is not managing the Covid pandemic- 19.
The MEC singled out former ANC councilor Visvin Reddy, now leader of the African Democratic Chane (Adec), who has criticized the province’s response to handling the pandemic, especially at RK Khan Hosptial, through his Facebook platform.
Simelane-Zulu, who called him a “failed politician,” said the claim that there are no beds and no mortuary space was “false, misleading and completely unnecessary.”
“In a challenging time like today, we should work collectively to contain the spread of Covid-19, give hope, help people access health care, and encourage the public to change behavior patterns, so that we can prevent a disaster of unimaginable proportions. It’s really not a time for popularity contests on social media, ”he said.
In response, Reddy challenged the MEC to go to RK Khan Hospital to see the situation for herself rather than “playing man and not ball.”
He said his goal was to ensure that the province was geared towards fighting the pandemic and denied that he was spreading false information on social media.
“You should go see for yourself if the hospitals are fully equipped and handling the situation and if you come back and show that they are handling it sufficiently, I will have no problem apologizing. The fact that people are listening to us online shows that they don’t have confidence in the department and that should be a concern for her, ”he said.
Simelane-Zulu said that both the public health system and the private health system are under pressure.
He said that during the last 24-hour reporting cycle, KZN had recorded 2,835 new infections, bringing the cumulative number of infections to 188,782.
“Fortunately, this is down from the 4000 that we have been seeing, which were threatening to hit the 5000 mark. Only by doing the right thing can we begin to see a steady reduction in these infection numbers. Sadly, in the past 24 hours, 144 people lost their lives due to Covid-19, bringing the overall count to 4,278. Fortunately, however, 135,370 (or 72%) patients have recovered. “
Referring to Covid-19 bed capacity, Simelane-Zulu said that as of Dec. 28, total beds for isolation and research patients (PUI) were 3,477.
Of these beds, 2,289 were occupied, which equates to a bed occupancy rate of 66%.
The bed occupancy rate varies between districts, with places like Ugu and uMgungundlovu and eThekwini districts under pressure.
He stressed that relatively sparsely populated districts such as Umzinyathi, Harry Gwala, Amajuba, Zululand and Umkhanyakude have very low bed occupancy.
“These variations in bed occupancy rates between districts mean that the province still has 34% of unoccupied beds; allowing intra-district transfer of Covid – 19 patients where there is pressure, if the need arises. For example, patients from the Ugu district can easily be transferred to the Harry Gwala district; and patients from UMgungundlovu to uThukela district, and so on ”.
She said they were confident that bed occupancy will become much more stable, with the reintroduction of Tier 3 regulations.
Explaining why there was a high demand for hospital beds, Simelane-Zulu said this was due to late filing, meaning that by the time patients arrive at the hospital, they have already become complicated and require intensive care and ICU.
It added that as of December 28, 2020, the overall ICU capacity within public health facilities was 39% (or 47 out of 119).
“As much as there is increased pressure and demand for ICU beds within the Metropolitan Districts (eThekwini and UMgungundlovu), the peripheral districts reflect a low occupancy of ICU beds. Hospitals like Ngwelezane, Queen Nandi, Newcastle, and Ladysmith had ICU Covid -19 unoccupied beds as of December 28, 2020. So when all ICU beds are sold out at eThekwini, uMgungundlovu and UGu, ICU patients will be transferred to these hospitals . The overall bed occupancy rate for PUI beds is 73%, which is 13% higher than COVID-positive beds. Ugu district has the highest bed occupancy rate at 236%, followed by iLembe (90%) and King Cetshwayo at 81% ”.
MESS
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