Rundu overwhelmed with Covid admissions
RUNDU – The Rundu Intermediate Hospital is getting overwhelmed as the hospital’s Covid-19 admissions continue to increase. The hospital has prepared to manage about 42 Covid-19 patients but by yesterday, the hospital was treating 30 patients.
The Rundu district has 36 Covid-19 deaths recorded to date.
According to the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr Medson Chibwe, there are over 300 Covid-19 patients that are being managed from out of hospital isolation facilities and home, as the majority of these patients are either symptomatic or they have mild symptoms.
“Currently, we have about 30 hospitalised patients in our ward, ranging from severely ill, moderate and mild and those that are not yet classified as fit enough to be sent home are being kept for observation,” he said.
“The majority of the positive cases or patients are outside the hospital and are being monitored and followed up by our surveillance team. Many are at home and few are at selected isolation facilities.”
Chibwe added the main challenge is the lack of doctors to cope with this surge and also to continue with the hospital’s normal activities.
“We are also facing the national challenge of oxygen, a lack of nurses and doctors – and because of the increasing numbers, we are now having challenges with space to accommodate our Covid-19 patients. But we are doing our best under the circumstances,” he said.
Chibwe described coronavirus as a “very bad virus” – and that when dealing with it, prevention is better than cure. He urged people to listen to health professionals and not be misled by unprofessional people who are not experts. “Let us focus on preventative measures. Let us wear our masks, avoid crowded spaces and we should sanitise as well as wash our hands with soap under running water – and most importantly, we still have vaccines available, so get vaccinated, as that will help us in this fight against the deadly virus,” he stressed.
According to Chibwe, four of the eight ventilators at the Rundu hospital are allocated to Covid-19 patients, while others are being used in other various departments.
“People should just maintain social distancing as well as adhere to all Covid-19 regulations, like Dr Chibwe said. People should make use of the vaccination programme that is ongoing for free; that can prevent us from getting into a critical situation,” said Lebbeus Musongo from the for Kavango East and West regional health directorate, who is the focal person responsible for educating the Kavango community through the NBC Wato Radio in local languages.
“Mind you, our health system is overwhelmed, so if we don’t change our behaviour, it will get worse – and we might reach a point where hospitals might not have space to admit,” he added.
Kavango East governor Bonifatius Wakudumo said he was disappointed to see people not taking the government’s efforts seriously.
“People are not wearing masks in public. They are misleading others not to get vaccinated and they are still seen gathering while government is saying we should adhere to Covid-19 regulations and limit our gatherings to 10 people while taking into account social distancing,” he said.
“As I am speaking, I have taken my jabs and I didn’t die – and had no complications, so people should not be misled; they should get vaccinated. Along with other leaders, we are engaging the community on a day-to-day basis to encourage them to get vaccinated; we will also engage traditional leaders this week to tell them to motivate their subjects to get vaccinated,” Wakudumo noted.