WATCH: Students and staff to use ‘HealthCheck’ prior to entering campuses
"It is available in various platforms including USSD, WhatsApp or simple web-based. One does not need to have a smartphone. You can use any device to access it."
About two million students and staff would be required to register for the HealthCheck cellphone app before returning to university and Tvet college campuses.
This was according to higher education minister Blade Nzimande, who spoke during a visit to the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) to assess its readiness for the return of students.
“Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the department for launching this purpose-built daily screening and monitoring tool using one’s cellphone, to be used in all our post-school education and training institutions.”
“It is available in various platforms including USSD, WhatsApp or simple web-based. One does not need to have a smartphone. You can use any device to access it.”
Nzimande said HealthCheck was secure for use by students and staff entering various campuses daily, to self-check their body temperature.
He said the self-screening data would be linked to the tracking system of the health department. He said the tool allowed for early detection, mapping and management of Covid-19 cases within higher education institutions. Nzimande said based on the answers entered on the platform, the person would receive a message with the low, moderate, or high-level risk reading.
“If the risk is low, the individual will receive clearance valid for 24 hours.”
“All students and staff ‘about two million people’ will be required to register for HealthCheck and use it every day to assess their own level of risk prior to entering campuses,” Nzimande said.
Nzimande said Higher Health had previously provided detailed Covid-19 guidelines on how to deal with prevention and care of physical health of students and staff.
However ‘mental health of both staff and students is equally important and appropriate guidelines have also been developed to deal with this’.
“The UN and the World Health Organization have advocated that mental health and well-being of whole societies are severely impacted by Covid-19 and see these as an urgent priority,” Nzimande said.
“These guidelines outline why and how students and staff may be impacted and how to assist individuals that may experience problems.”
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