QUARANTINE NIGHTMARE Covid-19 positive patients cry of neglect at isolation centre
They are not offered medical care or counselling Fear that depression could scale up
Isolation is lonely for scores of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 but perhaps what is worse is how some of them are neglected and have been left to stare at walls and twiddle their thumbs over the ten-day isolation period.
Inside information from disgruntled patients indicates that once they are admitted, they are left to their own devices and not checked on by nurses or doctors, particularly those who are taken to isolation centres that are not hospitals. A patient at isolation centre at DC Tours in Block 5, Gaborone, said they had never seen a nurse or doctor since they were admitted to the facility. “Not even our temperature is taken and not one has come to see how we are doing; we have basically been left unattended since we got here. The food is terrible and the conditions bad because there are four people per room but what is more disturbing is that we are not even sure if medically, we are improving or getting worse – we had expected that we would get medical attention.” The source said there was a patient they were isolated with, who showed signs of grave illness.
“Some of us seemingly have a mild infection or are asymptomatic of the Covid-19 but there is one patient who seems to be very ill but she has not been attended to.” The source further said that they had not been offered any mandatory counselling to help them cope with the conditions they have found themselves in. “Being in isolation can be depressing and patients who had pre-existing mental illness are likely to be pushed to the edge. We were not offered any counselling when we got here, and it doesn’t seem like we will because we are nearing the end of our isolation period,” said the source.
An official comment from relevant authorities could not be solicited until press time.
Amid fears that there could be a new variant of Covid-19 which spreads faster, countries in southern Africa have been grappling with the increasing cases of Covid-19. Zimbabwe has since gone into total lockdown while South Africa is on level three – which is partial lockdown. On Monday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa announced that 20 land borders would be closed until 15 February 2021. Exceptions will be made for returning students, diplomats, those transporting fuel and goods, and those going for medical assistance.