Life Healthcare seeing increase in Covid-19 cases at its hospitals

Private hospital group Life Healthcare says a “growing number” of patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 are being admitted to its facilities.

Among the latest are two people in Durban who contracted the virus and are in isolation at Chatsmed Gardens Hospital in Chatsworth, which is part of Life Healthcare.

Dr Charl van Loggerenberg, general manager of emergency medicine at Life Healthcare, confirmed the two cases and said they were being treated in a dedicated Covid-19 ward within the facility.

Two weeks ago the first man to have tested positive for Covid-19 in Chatsworth was admitted to Greys Hospital in Pietermaritzburg for treatment.

The man's family, who were in quarantine, had to deal with hostility from some community members.

Van Loggerenberg said stringent infection prevention and control safety measures were in effect at the private hospital group's facilities throughout SA.

“Currently, we are seeing a growing number of Covid-19 patients admitted throughout our health care facilities nationally; however, none of our hospitals are at or over capacity at this point in time.

“As with all hospitals across the country, the risk of exposure to hospital employees and doctors means that we are implementing stringent infection prevention and control safety measures aligned to National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) guidelines.

“These include Covid-19 personal protection (PPE) and universal masking policies as well as daily screening of any persons entering our hospitals.

“Employees and doctors are screened when they first enter the hospital building for the day.”

He said all employees including doctors were required to report potential exposure or symptoms to hospital management “as a matter of urgency so that the necessary steps and precautions can be implemented”. 

“Additionally, our health care workers' exposure policy is in place to ensure the effective management and resourcing of our facilities for if, or when, health care workers become exposed to the virus.

“This also ensures that our facilities can continue to operate as best as possible without little or minimal disruption. ​"