Medical expert to investigate outbreak at Durban hospital

Acclaimed epidemiologist Prof Salim Abdool Karim will lead an investigation into the outbreak of the coronavirus at St Augustine’s hospital in Durban.

This was revealed in a statement from Netcare management yesterday, who moved swiftly to deny that medical staff and employees at the hospital — at which 66 people have tested positive for Covid-19 — were not given appropriate personal protective equipment.

In the statement‚ in response to health minister Zweli Mkhize’s announcement on Tuesday‚ Netcare CEO Dr Richard Friedland said the hospital was “deeply saddened that‚ despite our very best efforts and precautions‚ there have been a total of four Covid19-associated deaths” there.

Friedland said a number of measures had been implemented at the hospital, including sanitisation‚ swabbing of almost 2‚000 employees and working with acclaiming epidemiologist Prof Karim to investigate the underlying cause and nature of the outbreak.

He said contrary to certain misleading claims‚ staff members and doctors at the 464-bed hospital — regarded as one of the flagship private hospitals in the country — had been provided with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

“No Netcare facility has ever expected a staff member to work without appropriate PPE.

“Our PPE policy includes a directive on the wearing of masks during the Covid-19 pandemic which is‚ in fact‚ more conservative in that it provides greater protection than the current recommendations and guidelines of two highly respected health organisations‚ namely the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

“In addition‚ we have retrained over 16‚750 healthcare workers‚ other staff members and doctors on the appropriate and correct use of personal protective equipment‚ and compliance in this regard is being closely monitored.

“Since the spread of infections began as a result of two patients‚ who were admitted for other medical reasons and initially had no travel history or symptoms of Covid-19 but subsequently tested positive‚ we have been in close consultation with the KZN health department and the NICD and continue to strictly follow their guidance and instructions‚” Friedland said.

He said the clinical team was working closely with Karim‚ a special adviser to the minister of health‚ and a team of epidemiology and infectious diseases specialists from the University of KwaZulu-Natal‚ to fully investigate the underlying cause and nature of this outbreak.

Friedland said the hospital had 15 pre-existing community-acquired Covid-19 patients in its dedicated Covid-19 isolation units at present and that one person had recovered and was due to be discharged.

“Of the staff and doctors tested‚ we confirm that 47 people who are connected with our hospital have tested positive for Covid-19.

“Of the 47 cases‚ 33 are in self-isolation and a further 14 are being accommodated by Netcare to ensure they are able to safely self-quarantine.

“Of those who tested positive‚ one person has since tested negative following his period of self-quarantine and has since returned to work.”

Friedland said challenges associated with the virus — that people infected did not always display symptoms and that it was highly infectious — made it difficult to address and it was for this reason extraordinary measures‚ including suspending visiting hours and closing its pharmacies and coffee shops, were implemented.

“The ideal would be if all healthcare facilities could test‚ and not just screen‚ every person coming into our hospitals‚ and to do that on a repeat basis as some may at first test negative.

“The reality in SA‚ however‚ makes this impossible‚ so the risk remains of Covid-19 entering our hospitals‚ and any other hospital‚ in this way despite our best efforts to prevent this from happening‚” Friedland said.

KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said her department had to put its foot down and close the hospital as a precaution after discovering irregularities in how Covid-19 cases were being reported to the government.

“The biggest issue that got us worried was that the cases we got from there were not cases that had initially been reported.

“These were cases that were admitted to the hospital without being tested properly for Covid-19 and they were put in a normal ward and tested for pneumonia instead of following proper protocol and testing for Covid-19‚” she said.

“We decided to randomly test not even patients at the time — we decided to test their healthcare workers and out of the first 20 we tested‚ 11 came back positive.

“We have tested everyone and already we are on 48 healthcare workers that have been exposed‚” she said.