Covid patients helped to be quarantined

LYDENBURG – With no respite in the new Covid-19 cases, Lydenburg Hospital refused the admission of two homeless people on Sunday June 20.
Hester van Zijl, director of the Step Foundation in Lydenburg, tried to have the two Covid-positive men admitted, to no avail.
She called in the help of Sonja Boshoff, DA member of parliament.
Lydenburg Hospital explained to Boshoff that it does not have an isolation room available for patients to be quarantined. With the help of Jane Sithole, DA leader Mpumalanga, and the director general of health in Mpumalanga, Duduzile Mdluli, the patients were taken by ambulance to Mbombela.
Lydenburg Hospital also informed Van Zijl and Boshoff that it did not have ambulances available on a Sunday.

Also read: Coromandel through the ages

“We waited outside the hospital for the ambulance. Nutting House Lodge in Mbombela is the facility where patients are taken who have to stay in self-isolation. The two men from the Step Foundation will stay there for ten days or till they are healthy. The takeaway from this is that Covid-positive patients shouldn’t even go to the hospital if they don’t show symptoms. But what are the homeless supposed to do?” said Boshoff.
Van Zijl expressed her gratitude to the Department of Health, Boshoff and Sithole to have the two men admitted.
“The homeless have the biggest risk of infecting other people and can’t stay in the street while they have Covid. I am so thankful for everyone’s help in this regard,” said Van Zijl.
The Mpumalanga Department of Health was asked for comment but had not responded by the time going to press.

Also read: Truck flattens family shack