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- Not a single patient was admitted to the trauma unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital on New Year’s Eve.
- The empty trauma unit is believed to have been the result of the stricter curfew and alcohol ban implemented Tuesday.
- In a speech delivered Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that excessive alcohol consumption has increased the number of trauma cases in hospitals.
For the first time in its history, the trauma unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital was empty on New Year’s Eve.
According to a post on the Soweto-based hospital’s Facebook page, not a single patient was admitted to the Soweto hospital’s trauma unit as the new year dawned.
Nurse Practitioner Busi Ramafoko, who has worked at the unit for the past nine years, welcomed the vision of an empty trauma unit and said that New Year’s Eve was very different from what she had experienced in the past.
Fall in trauma cases
In early 2020, News24 reported that Chris Hani Baragwanath had seen a drop in trauma cases during the hard lockdown and noted the gradual increase as restrictions, including a ban on alcohol, were lifted.
The empty trauma unit is believed to have been the result of the stricter curfew and alcohol ban that was imposed by the government days before the New Year celebrations began.
On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country would return to Level 3 of the lockdown, with a set of adjusted regulations in a bid to curb the recent surge in Covid-19 infections across the country.
In his speech, Ramaphosa said that excessive alcohol consumption has increased the number of trauma cases in hospitals.
“According to the data we have, with each relaxation of restrictions on the sale of alcohol, the number of reported trauma cases in our hospitals has increased,” said the president.
“These trauma cases are putting unnecessary pressure on our public health facilities, which are already overloaded.
“Our hospitals, both private and public, are already close to their maximum capacity in several provinces, and ICU beds are either full or filling rapidly.
“In the Eastern Cape, for example, the number of hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths has now exceeded the numbers seen in the first increase earlier this year.”
Justification for the prohibition of alcoholic beverages
This seemed to be the rationale for why the liquor ban was introduced for the third time since the strict lockdown was originally enforced in March 2020.
Along with the ban on the sale of alcohol, nightclubs, bars, shebeens and taverns were also closed.
