Private clinics shut doors after staff test positive

Some private hospitals have temporarily closed after staff tested positive for Covid-19 – a drastic protective measure that is likely to continue being taken as the pandemic progresses.

For example, Netcare’s St Augustine’s hospital has been closed since early April, with Netcare Kingsway doing the same in midApril. Netcare Ceres was also closed for a week.

Mediclinic Morningside in Johannesburg was closed for several weeks for new admissions.

Life Healthcare has not indicated any closures related to Covid-19 cases.

Some other private hospitals within the groups, such as Netcare Parklands, have closed emergency departments temporarily.

Dr Anchen Laubscher, group medical director of Netcare, said it was keeping the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the department of health in the loop, but could not disclose the number of infected staff members.

Mediclinic chief clinical officer Dr Stefan Smuts said “a small portion of staff members have tested positive for Covid-19”. According to various media reports, at least 79 staff members, including healthcare workers, allied health professionals and support staff, have tested positive at Mediclinic Morningside.

Dr Charl van Loggerenberg, general manager of emergency medicine at Life Healthcare, said: “Of our more than 10 000 frontline employees and participating doctors, there have been fewer than a dozen positive cases.”

While the group has temporarily closed seven surgical facilities and 17 pharmacies, this is to cancel elective surgeries and focus on the most critical services.

The closures are primarily to allow for sanitation, testing and isolation of staff and to get clearance from the department of labour to reopen. – GroundUp