Hospitals in SA’s far northern provinces are coping under the weight of the third wave of Covid-19, but fears remain that further spikes could put them under extreme pressure.
A doctor at a Covid-19 ward at Mankweng Hospital in Limpopo said the situation was currently “not too bad”. At this stage, the ward hasn’t had to ask for assistance from other departments, as they did in the second wave.
The doctor asked not to be named for fear of victimisation.
He said many of the patients that they are now treating are from Gauteng, which has been the third wave’s epicentre.
In January this year, the doctor said their ward was like a morgue because of the high death-rate — fatalities he mainly attributed to a shortage of ICU beds and ventilators.
“It was very stressful seeing patients die in front of you, while you know that with the right care and resources they could have made it.
“Those scenes keep on replaying in my head. I pray that we don’t get to see what we experienced in January ever again,” the doctor said.
Up to late last week, there were 614 people currently hospitalised in the Free State, with 77 of them in ICU. In the North West, 1,067 people were admitted and 97 of them were in ICU. In Mpumalanga, 650 people were admitted and 109 of them were in ICU. In Limpopo, 712 people were hospitalised and 54 of them were in ICU.
We are still seeing a high number of very sick patients and I believe this will continue for a while.
— SA Medical Association chairperson Dr Angelique Coetzee
Dr Angelique Coetzee, SA Medical Association chairperson, said that though the situation looked calm in many provinces, there were worries that hospitals were not be geared up to deal with the huge number admissions that might materialise.
“We saw what happened with the previous waves, where hospitals battled to deal with the huge increases in Covid-19 patients. The main issue here is the shortage of resources, such as enough ICU beds and personnel. These were a challenge before and it doesn’t look like provinces have done anything to prepare.
“We saw people dying while waiting in queues, waiting for beds. And I’m afraid we might see this happen again, because not much has been done to prepare,” she said.
She said Gauteng was not out of the woods yet, as more people were still testing positive for Covid-19 and requiring hospitalisation.
“We are still seeing a high number of very sick patients and I believe this will continue for a while. We are still to see the effects of the current cold front and the riots from two weeks ago,” she said.
Coetzee said what still remained a challenge was that people chose to seek medical help only when their health had deteriorated substantially.
“People stay home thinking they only have a cold, while it’s actually Covid-19,” she said.
Independent public health practitioner Dr Shakira Choonara said NICD figures showed that many provinces had more admissions during the third wave than the second.
She said the report stated that there were increases in admissions in the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Northern Cape and Western Cape — and that these provinces had reached the “case threshold for the third wave”.
Choonara said: “The interesting trend is in all of the mentioned provinces, there is almost double or triple the number of hospital admissions in the public sector versus the private sector. This is reflected in that the majority of the South African population is still reliant on public health services and cannot afford private healthcare.
“The healthcare systems are already strained in these provinces and this is set to worsen. Usually healthcare facilities in metros are better equipped, so the outlyingpublic health facilities may face pressures given the increased admissions.”
Spokesperson for health in the North West Tebogo Lekgethwane said the third wave in the province had been more severe than the first and second waves, as the province recorded more than 1,000 new daily infections for a few days in succession.
He said the province was well-prepared to deal with any patients that might need hospitalisation.
He said the province had beds repurposed for Covid-19 care, both in the private and public facilities.
“In public we have over 1,100 beds with 700 on reticulated oxygen and others mobile oxygen supply. These beds are spread between tertiary, secondary and district hospitals. We also have dedicated Covid-19 hospitals. The majority of the beds are in bigger hospitals such as Klerksdorp Hospital, Mahikeng Provincial Hospital and Job Shimankana Tabane Hospital in Rustenburg, as well as Potchefstroom Hospital,” Lekgethwane explained.
He said the secondary and tertiary hospitals also had ICU and high care beds.
“We have close to 50 dedicated Covid-19 high care beds and over 30 beds allocated for ICU,” he said.
