Electronic hospital bed management dashboard and extra medics to help Gauteng deal with Covid-19 surge

Province is ready: Health MEC

20 June 2021 - 18:20 By ernest mabuza
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Gauteng health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi says the province is able to cope with the pressure on its health system at this stage, despite the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. File photo.
Gauteng health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi says the province is able to cope with the pressure on its health system at this stage, despite the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. File photo.
Image: Veli Nhlapo

In spite of the health system in Gauteng operating under increased load due to the rise in Covid-19 cases, the province is able to cope with the pressure at this stage, Gauteng health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi said on Sunday.

Gauteng has seen a surge in the number of new Covid-19 cases in the past few weeks. Of the 13,575 Covid-19 cases recorded by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases on Saturday, 8,403 cases were in Gauteng.

Mokgethi said healthcare workers and the department remained committed to curbing the third wave.

She said additional personnel are being appointed to add to the 5,521 Covid-19 posts filled as of June 1 this year.

“Our system might be under pressure, but we have the will and enough capacity to cope with the demand. We are adding more healthcare personnel to make sure more available beds are fully functional,” Mokgethi said.

She said the army was also deploying its medical personnel to boost capacity in the province.

“We have dedicated Covid-19 functional beds across the province supported by a live electronic Covid-19 bed management dashboard which we use to monitor the use of beds across the province.

“In addition to newly built infrastructure in Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Jubilee Hospital and Bronkhorstspruit Hospital and the repurposed Tshwane District Hospital, wards and beds in other facilities are always repurposed based on the demands of the pandemic at any given time.”

She said her department has activated resurgence plans across its five districts to minimise the impact of the third wave.

This included intensified Covid-19 screening and testing activities in communities.

She said there was also collaborative work led by other government agencies to improve law enforcement in settings to ensure compliance to Covid-19 protocols in line with the national lockdown alert level 3.

The province has ramped up its vaccination programme by ensuring more sites are opened.

Mokgethi said there are 137 active sites (89 public and 48 private) with eight new sites added.

She said all public vaccinations sites in Gauteng accept walk-ins for those who are 60 years and above, even if people have not registered on the official electronic vaccination data system (EVDS).

“There is no doubt we are seeing widespread transmission of coronavirus infections in all our communities.

“For the first time on Wednesday last week, Gauteng recorded 7,859 new infections, which surpassed the first and second wave daily infections,” Mokgethi said.

TimesLIVE


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