As a surge in Covid-19 cases hits Gauteng, South Africa’s biggest private hospital groups say they have not reached capacity in the province, despite being under immense pressure.
In its weekly update on Thursday, the Gauteng provincial coronavirus command council said there were 8 301 beds available specifically for Covid-19 patients in private and public hospitals.– Additional beds are being created in public hospitals in the province. “Should a situation present where one of our hospitals do not have capacity at a given time, patients will be transported to and accommodated in another of our hospitals which does have capacity,” he said.
Life Healthcare said the hospital bed capacity was being monitored daily by a Covid-19 doctor committee, which worked in tandem with management. Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku said on Friday the facility was only intended to treat stable patients, and it therefore does not have oxygen treatment supplies.“We are not ruling out the fact that we might have to escalate the service at some point,” said Masuku at a tour of the facility on Friday.
“There is a massive rush on hospitals and I think it’s happening faster than what the hospitals are ready for. And they are buckling under the strain.”If the country waits around for pharmaceutical interventions, like a vaccine, it risks making the same mistakes that were made around HIV, which included focusing too little on prevention and too much on treatment.
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