Temporary Covid-19 hospital set for Stanger

A Covid-19 tented hospital is to be erected up in KwaDukuza town in preparation for the expected surge of infections in the district.

Plans for the temporary 160-bed structure, next to the Transport Department grounds, were approved this week by the iLembe District Command Council, which is made up of mayors from the four municipalities in the iLembe District Municipality and other roleplayers, tasked to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The hospital, which will be an intermediate care facility, will only treat patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 and who need high-level care, but not ICU care.

The plans are in line with the provinces’ response to the Covid-19 epidemic, including the need for additional hospital beds.

This will increase the current 500-bed capacity of General Justice Gizenga Mpanza hospital (previously Stanger Hospital).

The site will also be fitted out with 46 bathrooms and is expected to take 15 days to complete, to serve the estimated population of 600 000 from the iLembe district.

The district has been declared a hotspot by Health minister Zweli Mkhize with a total of 384 positive cases.

Mkhize said those areas identified as hotspots would be subject to stringent monitoring.

He outlined how government plans to monitor the hotspots and said that if the measures to assist these areas continued to be ineffective, they would have to be pushed back into stricter lockdown levels.

“We are asking for vigilance and close monitoring in areas identified as hotspots. There must be containment measures for people with comorbidities,” he said.

The programme includes plans to recruit more than a 1000 healthcare workers including nurses, medical officers, physiotherapists, psychologists and other staff.

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