ONE YEAR OF COVID-19 | 'We can't make the same mistakes again': medical fraternity reflects on pandemic

Exactly a year ago, the first Covid-19 case was confirmed in SA. Since then, more than 1.5 million people have been confirmed as having contracted the disease — 94.6% recovered but more than 50,000 lives were lost.

The pandemic has affected every sphere of human life but it has also been countered with great resolve and determination by all South Africans who have made personal sacrifices that have resulted in the containment of two successive waves of transmission.

Dr Owen Kaluwa, World Health Organisation representative to SA, has reflected on the milestones reached by the country at large.

“In this one year we learnt that Covid-19 can be contained, and community transmission interrupted through a whole-of-government response, but more importantly through the participation and co-operation of all the citizens.

“Throughout the different alert levels the citizens have adhered to the different regulations and thus made their civic contribution towards the containment of the pandemic,” Kaluwa said.

Second, he said, the country learnt that a strong and resilient health system is critical and that health workers are a national asset.

“The pandemic showed us the centrality of the health sector in the economy, and that investment in the health sector has ripple effects because the sector is essential for the economic growth of the country.

“In the course of responding to the pandemic more than 50,000 health-care workers have been infected and, sadly, more than 700 health-care workers have been lost. WHO, in recognition of the bravery of these heroes and heroines globally, has designated the year 2021 as the International Year of Health and Care Workers (YHCW) with a call for continued protection of HCWs, more investment in health workforce readiness, education, and learning to manage the pandemic and maintain health services.

“SA has led the way in a number of areas during this past year, such as scaling up laboratory capacities, community screening, and testing and research. The recent successful response to the second wave driven by a new variant is an indication that we now know what to do,” Kaluwa said.

Phili Twala, midwife at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg, said though the pandemic took a toll on the health fraternity, there were great developments worth noting.

“I’m proud of the government initiative on getting the vaccine and how they have managed to curb the spread of the disease. The amount of research that was done in such a short period is commendable.

“What makes me sad is that there is still a certain group of people who don’t believe that Covid-19 exists. You find people still not wearing masks correctly and not being careful and adhering to the restrictions. It really breaks our hearts as front-line staff,” Twala said.

She said it was the responsibility of health workers and the nation at large to reinforce education and awareness of the disease.

“Things have got better, with tests coming back within 24 hours, which is a huge improvement. The process is not perfect but we have come far. In the beginning, it was a struggle but now we have access to a lot of resources.” Twala said.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, chairperson of the South African Medical Association, said a lack of preparation for the upcoming wave should be avoided.

“If one looks back to when the pandemic broke out, we knew it would come to us. If we look at level 5, we hope that we will never have that kind of lockdown ever again. The restrictions were important but a lot of things suffered.

“The closing of a lot of small industry is something that will haunt for years to come. If we look at the first wave, our hospitals were not geared for that. We didn’t have the necessary information at first and the infrastructure of the facilities was strained.

“When the second wave started, we actually didn’t prepare for it from the lessons we learnt from the first one. A lot of hospitals didn’t have enough oxygen ports or a proper human resource plan, these kinds of issues brought a bigger burden,” she said.

Coetzee said she hoped basic mistakes are never repeated.

“We should be vigilant the whole time and continue to wear masks and social distance.”

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