Hospitals brace for coronavirus

AS GLOBAL coronavirus deaths increase, state hospitals are readying themselves and Addington Hospital is said to be better prepared with an isolation ward that meets the required standards compared to that of the provincially designated Grey’s hospital.

The national Department of Health appointed Grey’s in Pietermaritzburg to manage all suspected coronavirus cases in Kwazulu-natal.

However, Nomakiki Majola, a member of the provincial legislature and chairperson of the health portfolio committee, said that Addington had better facilities, although upgrades were needed.

“We are pleased with the current state of the isolation ward because it meets the standards.

“It’s a matter of revitalising it and making it totally ideal and correct for the purpose it has been designated for,” she said.

“An outbreak needs everybody to be on their toes,” she said.

Majola met the heads of different units at Addington to discuss the coronavirus master plan and to assess the hospital’s state of readiness yesterday.

Dr Mthetheleli Ndlangisa, the hospital’s chief executive officer, took Majola on a tour of the isolation ward for suspected cases.

“The ward is a work in progress, but it needs a deadline because we can have a case any time,” said Majola.

Majola would also visit Grey’s, Empangeni’s Ngwelezane and far northern Zululand’s Manguzi hospitals in the next few days.