R405m boost for Covid-19 war chest

Money to benefit public hospitals in country’s virus hot spots

AS THE Covid-19 pandemic intensifies, the Solidarity Fund has approved an additional R405 million towards the purchase of critical health-care equipment for the public hospital system in the virus hot spots in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng.

Working with the national Department of Health and provincial officials, the fund approved finance for equipment including more hospital beds, ventilators and high-flow oxygen devices, a statement said on Friday.

Seeded with R150m from the government, the independently operated fund had secured about R3.02 billion in pledges by Thursday from corporates and individuals to help the country deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The latest response from the fund was in line with projected demand for health services, based on epidemiological modelling of the impact of the pandemic in each of the provinces.

The predicted demand was for more than 100 000 general ward beds and over 26 000 critical care beds at the peak of the pandemic in the country.

In the Western Cape, R120m would go towards more hospital beds as well as ICU ventilators.

For Gauteng, the fund approved R209m for medical equipment. The funds would be used to buy high-care equipment for hospitals and to equip the field hospital at Nasrec.

The fund also approved R76m for the Eastern Cape, where there was insufficient general ward and ICU capacity and an urgent need for oxygen devices.

The funds would be used to purchase high-flow oxygen devices, which were more cost-effective than ventilators and had been used successfully in the province.

In addition, the fund approved R250m towards local production of 20 000 non-invasive ventilators in support of the National Ventilator Project. The locally-made ventilators were expected to be delivered at the end of the next month.

Since establishment in March, the fund had approved some R2.1bn for initiatives to prevent, support, detect and care for those affected by the pandemic.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa said last week that it had launched its R150m Covid-19 response programme in South Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

“We are providing support to activities that will bolster national and local government capacity to manage the response, save lives and help ensure the South African and SADC economies will recover after the pandemic,” said chief executive Patrick Dlamini.