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Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says the risk of complacency among members of the public could become South Africa’s biggest drawback and result in a second wave of Covid-19 that is more devastating than the first.
Speaking during a webinar on Tuesday (September 29) to mark World Environmental Health Day, the Health Minister warned that as the country passes through alert level one, the risk of complacency among members of the community can become the biggest inconvenience and result in a “second wave that is more devastating than the first.”
“Having witnessed a resurgence in many countries around the world today, we must proceed with the same level of vigilance and care, understanding that the risk of being forced back into a total lockdown remains very real.
“We can never allow the virus to spread rampant, causing massive loss of life, unsustainable strain on the healthcare system and wreaking environmental havoc,” he said.
He said that hand hygiene, social distancing, safe food handling and sale, environmental cleanliness, and waste and human remains management are also among the environmental interventions that the government is currently concerned with in the context of prevention. and response to Covid-19.
“The practices that were emphasized during the Covid-19 pandemic and are now part of the new normal, such as hand washing, regular surface disinfection, sneezing and coughing, have always been championed by the Environmental Health fraternity.
“Covid-19 has once again reaffirmed the reality that diseases know no borders and no country is immune from the socioeconomic devastation that follows the arrival and spread of a new and unknown pathogen.
“The pandemic also reinforced the need for countries to seek a more collaborative response, particularly at the regional level,” he said.
National health insurance
Mkhize said that President Cyril Ramaphosa requires the country to create a “legacy” for the health system from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The legacy will find expression in the National Health Insurance. As a legacy, we have to use this pandemic to ensure that implementation-level environmental health systems are strengthened for the future.
“National norms and standards for environmental health provide an opportunity to achieve this,” he said. Mkhize said that it is vital that employers ensure compliance with norms and standards in the provision of environmental health services.
“An adequate number of trained professionals must be employed and continually developed to deal with pandemics, emerging and re-emerging diseases, and current environmental challenges that may have potential negative impacts on human health.”
Mkhize has previously said that before the pandemic hit, the government held many consultations in which it received overwhelming support for the NHI.
“It was about building the resilience of the healthcare sector to ensure the consistent delivery of quality healthcare to our people. At that stage, we all agreed that any obstacles hindering collaboration between all sectors should be removed as we took the path to universal health coverage ”.
The Health Minister said the government now plans to resume its work at the NHI.
“We are all eager to get used to Covid-19 so that we can pick up where we left off and accelerate our path towards implementing National Health Insurance.
“I am convinced that we will not only prevail over Covid-19, implement the NHI and achieve Universal Health Coverage in our lives, but that we will have sewn a new fabric for society – a fabric that does not compromise the alleviation of poverty, the preventing hunger, ensuring jobs and income and, in general, protecting the promise of a better life for all ”.
Read: Changes in South Africa’s coronavirus advisers
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