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By Nicola Daniels, Mayibongwe Maqhina 
December 30, 2020
Cape Town – As the country’s healthcare system struggles with the weight of the second wave of Covid-19 infections, it will soon see a positive boost in resources with 2,367 interns and 1,693 community service doctors.
At a briefing by the National Coronavirus Command Council yesterday, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said they would be part of the 7895 community service workforce.
He stressed that the safety of healthcare workers remained paramount as the country battled the pandemic.
“We are concerned about the increase in the number of professionals who are infected with Covid during the second wave. We continue to engage unions and inform them about this plan and our response to health and safety issues, ”Mkhize said.
According to the Democratic Nursing Organization of South Africa (Denosa), more than 41,000 healthcare workers have been infected in both the first and second waves, and at least 400 deaths have been reported.
South Africa had passed 1 million infections over the weekend with more than 27,000 deaths.
Mkhize said the government had gone to great lengths to ensure PPE (personal protective equipment) for all health workers.
“In fact, we place, at each facility, occupational health safety committees that should discuss at the facility level if there are any challenges with the availability of PPE,” Mkhize said.
Mkhize said that the availability of PPE was over 87%, covering all the facilities that have been audited.
Mkhize said that in a few days they would be welcoming 2,367 interns and 1,693 community service doctors who were among 7,895 community service workers.
“These are new employees that we brought into the system to help with the situation. Every year, we have to provide posts for these categories, ”he said.
The overall positivity rate for newly screened individuals was 32.9%, with the Western Cape registering 45%, followed by Limpopo with 41%, KwaZulu-Natal with 36% and Mpumalanga with 33%.
“This increase in positivity shows us that we have a rapidly growing epidemic. Positivity rates are a big concern, as we used to have 10% or less, Mkhize said.
There are currently 11,256 patients in the hospital with 3,543 on oxygen and 604 on ventilators.
In a separate briefing yesterday, Prime Minister Alan Winde announced that the province had recorded a total of 199,353 Covid-19 cases and 6,512 deaths, of which 180 were recorded in the last 24 hours.
With rising infection rates among healthcare workers, hiring additional staff was a big challenge, as the number of volunteers was also declining, provincial health chief Keith Cloete said at a press conference yesterday.
“The biggest challenge is the increasing rate of Covid infection among healthcare workers and the impact on isolation and quarantine of staff members.”
Winde said they were doing everything possible to cope with the growing demands.
“The next two weeks are critical in our fight against Covid-19. I urge residents to abide by the newly adjusted Level 3 restrictions so that we can help ease the pressure on our healthcare system and our hard-working healthcare workers, ”Winde said.
He said the province had added 774 additional beds to the system, which includes tents at Khayelitsha and Wesfleur hospitals, where admissions and discharges will be handled.
Tents were also being erected at Hope Hospital (Brackengate), Mitchell’s Plan, Helderberg, Eerste River and Karl Bremmer.
Afrox currently produces 65 tons of oxygen per day, and the provincial health currently uses 52 tons per day. Cloete said Afrox agreed to make an additional 5 tons per day available to the department if necessary.
Meanwhile, Denosa welcomed the Level 3 restrictions and said that curbing the spread of Covid-19 during the holiday season would save the lives of family members and healthcare workers.
“The fact that more than 41,000 health workers were infected in both the first and second waves is dire, to say the least. The fact that more than 430 healthcare workers have been infected in the second wave alone is indicative of the disastrous position healthcare workers have been placed in due to this pandemic.
The organization paid tribute to the health workers who have passed away and called for the protection of those who remain in the line of service, with many in quarantine.
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