The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for an urgent meeting of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) health portfolio committee to be convened, in order for provincial Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu to outline her Department’s plan as the second wave of Covid-19 hits the province.

The appeal was made in the form of a email to KZN health portfolio committee Chairperson, Nomakiki Majola sent today.

While the DA acknowledges that the KZN Legislature is on recess, these are unprecedented conditions where we believe the committee must be called back. Of particular concern are the rapidly rising number of Covid-19 infections among healthcare workers in the province.

While we have seen an increase within many hospitals, surge infections have been concentrated at Addington and RK Khans Hospital. These two hospitals have 38 and 23 staff infections respectively, which are spread among doctors, nurses, allied workers and administrative staff. The situation has resulted in many ambulances being diverted to other overcrowded hospitals in the Durban area.

The rising rate of infection has led to massive fear and panic within surrounding communities and among healthcare workers themselves. Reports from many such workers indicate that the issues of under-staffing, lack of equipment – in particular Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)- and crumbling infrastructure remain.

The investigative report, following the St Augustine’s Hospital cluster outbreak in April, put forward numerous measures to prevent in-hospital spread of Covid-19. These included strict adherence to and training of PPE protocols, preventing the movement of staff between shifts and units and the segregation of patients into red, orange and green streams, depending on their Covid-19 screening.

Following the release of the report, KZN Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu assured the provincial health portfolio committee that her Department had all these measures and others in place at all facilities. Yet the experiences of KZN’s healthcare workers tell a different story.

The DA is also aware that the Department purchased the Chinese-made KN95 masks despite a study conducted by the University of Cape Town, which showed that the masks are of poor quality and do not offer sufficient protection. In the DA-led Western Cape, these masks have already been removed and prohibited from all facilities, with investment in local production of the clinically-proven N95 masks in that province to ensure healthcare workers are protected.

KZN’s public hospital system was in a crisis before the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet despite the extremely trying circumstances, our frontline workers have been our heroes throughout this time. This while government is failing to treat them with the respect they deserve and give them the support they need in order to continue to save lives.

The DA sincerely hopes that the Chairperson will consider our request as a matter of urgency. We will continue to closely monitor this situation in a bid to ensure that all steps are in place to prevent a collapse of our public health system.

 

Issued by The DA