Protests against admittance of Covid-19 patients

Oqaqeni Clinic in Maphumulo closed its doors on Friday after a nurse tested positive for Covid-19 last week.

The facility was closed immediately for sanitation and all staff will be tested and quarantined for 14 days.

The nurse who tested positive is being treated at Untunjambili Hospital which is the provincial department’s quarantine site for all the Covid-19 patients in the iLembe District.

Angry community members held protests outside the hospital recently opposing the admission of Covid-19 patients to the facility.

According to reports police had to use teargas to disperse the protesters.

Health MEC in KwaZulu-Natal Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu has criticised the protest and called for people not to stigmatise those diagnosed with Covid-19.

“This follows the burning of tyres outside Untunjambili Hospital, near KwaDukuza, by community members who expressed their anger, following the admission of 10 patients who are Covid-19 positive to the hospital,” she said.

As a result of the low patient number the hospital is being used for the quarantining, isolation and treatment of patients who test positive for Covid-19.

Simelane-Zulu said access to basic health care will still be available at the hospital’s clinic and that measures are in place to avoid intra-transmissions.

“The hospital’s 24-hour Gateway Clinic, in the same premises but accessible through a different gate, is still rendering primary health care services to the public.

“Patients who require a higher level of care are being referred to Umphumulo Hospital,” she said.

She said bringing Covid-19 positive patients to the hospital did not pose a threat to the community if all clinical guidelines for infection prevention and control were followed by staff. This she said was the responsibility of the staff and management.

“We are appealing to the community to calm down. This hospital is one of our less busy facilities. It has a bed utilisation rate of 39 percent and an average patient length of stay of 4.6 days,” she said.

“Its patient headcount is 1,466, all of which is lower than the average. As part of curbing the spread of Covid-19, we as government have a responsibility to create as much capacity as possible for the quarantining, isolation and treatment of patients,” Simelane-Zulu said.

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