No isolation facilities, aim to reduce transferral
Government is no longer offering isolation centres for people who are not able to isolate at home unless they have severe symptoms that require hospitalisation.
POLOKWANE – Health department spokesperson Neil Shikwambana says the department offered isolation areas at its facilities as part of responding to the increase in Covid-19 cases during the first two waves.
“We experienced the pandemic in phases. Part of the first phase included to screen as many people as possible. Our aim has now changed to reducing transmissions while we gear up the health system.
“As part of the earlier phases we opened up isolation centres to allow those who had contracted the virus to isolate in order to prevent the spread of the virus at a time when the healthcare system was not ready.”
He said at the time, they were trying to make provision for people who could not isolate due to their situations at home.
He says the department now prioritises patients with severe symptoms that require the use of hospital equipment and it is no longer practical for the department to isolate everyone that tests positive.
“Housing patients just for isolation purposes uses state resources and it is not practical for the department to provide the facilities, furthermore we have not received any complaints or issues where people were unable to isolate.”
Polokwane Observer made Shikwambana aware of an incident where a tertiary institution in the city needed isolation facilities for students who stay in private residences and could not isolate properly. He says that it is the responsibility of the institution to make provision for its students.
Comment from Popo Maja, national health spokesperson was still awaited at the time of going to print.
Polokwane Observer asked residents if they were ever in a situation where they could not isolate at home, and how they managed.
I also made sure I use my own cutlery and wash it myself
wore a mask and made sure we take our medication and got food for us every morning and in the evenings after work. He would put everything on the cabinet and then he was out of the room. Everything that was used was sanitised before and after.
