Private hospitals to be paid for Covid-19 patients

THE GOVERNMENT will pay private hospitals and medical practitioners about R16 000 for Covid-19 patients that get treated in critical care beds in private hospitals if public hospitals run out of space, a senior health official said.

The government has been in talks for months with private firms and medical associations ahead of a probable scenario where public hospitals run out of critical care beds.

Anban Pillay, the health ministry’s deputy director-general, said the fee includes the cost of using the bed, paying a team of specialists to treat the patient and additional services including pathology and radiology.

The health departments in the nine provinces will sign “service-level” agreements, Pillay said.

Estimates vary widely as to how many critical care beds there are in the country.

A ministry presentation in April put the total at around 3 300, with two-thirds of those in the private sector. Health-care provider Netcare estimates there are some 6 000 beds, with around 3 800 in private hospitals.

South Africa had recorded nearly 50 000 cases of the new coronavirus, the most in Africa, with the number rising more steeply in recent weeks. As of late last month, around 1 100 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised.

Pillay said he expected the Western Cape Health Department would use critical care beds in private hospitals soon, followed by the Eastern Cape. The Western Cape accounts for 66% of the country’s cases and the Eastern Cape 12%.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, with Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, opened the 862-bed Hospital of Hope at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Friday.

Ramaphosa used his visit to declare war against Covid-19, saying more hospital beds were needed in the province.

He said saving lives must take precedence over costs, and committed to working with the provincial government to identify and source additional staff members.

Premier Alan Winde said: “Our teams have worked around the clock to ensure that this facility was ready in a matter of weeks. On Monday, it will start to take in its first patients. We have named it the Hospital of Hope because it is aimed at being a place where people come to be cared for, to recover and to go home at the end of their treatment.”