Hospitals act to make room for Covid-19 patients
Greenacres and Cuyler Clinic suspend elective surgeries
Two private hospitals in Nelson Mandela Bay — buckling under the strain of Covid-19 patients — have put a hold on elective surgeries as a hospitalbed shortage looms.
It comes as the Eastern Cape provincial command council predicts the province could run out of beds by the middle of next month, three months before the expected peak of the virus.
But there is hope, with the VW field hospital, which can provide 3,300 more beds once fully completed, to be launched today
The looming bed shortage resulted in the Netcare hospitals in the metro — Greenacres in Port Elizabeth and Cuyler in Uitenhage — suspending elective surgery and non-urgent medical admissions until further notice.
However, cases in which the clinical outcome of patients could be affected by this decision will go ahead.
Eastern Cape Netcare’s hospital division area general manager, Andre Bothma, said the decision to suspend elective surgery and non-urgent medical admissions was taken after the provincial health department announced on Friday that the number of Covid-19 cases in the province had doubled over the previous 10 days.
“This is to free up ICU and high-care beds which would otherwise have been used for patients after their elective surgery,” Bothma said.
Greenacres has 340 beds and Cuyler has 149.
“All surgical cases that have been scheduled for the coming week will be reassessed in conjunction with the treating specialists to determine which surgeries can be safely postponed, based on clinical considerations, capacity considerations and patient consent.
“We will continue to provide medical care for patients with life-threatening injuries or conditions,” Bothma said.
“The priority of emergency surgical cases proceeding will also be determined using the same criteria, to effectively manage our ICU and high-care beds.
“The situation will be monitored closely.”
He said Netcare was mindful of the effect of the decision on patients, communities and doctors.
“However, we trust they will understand that healthcare providers in both the public and private sectors must join hands in providing care to people in need.
“We thank our patients, doctors and communities for their support during these unprecedented and difficult times,” Bothma said.
“Elective surgery and admissions will be resumed at Netcare Greenacres and Netcare Cuyler hospitals as soon as it is safe to practically do so.”
He said Netcare had already committed to the department of health to treat public-sector patients in the group’s hospitals on a cost-recovery basis should the need arise.
“To effect this, the provincial departments of health need to enter into agreements with private hospitals,” he said.
No patient had been turned away prior to the decision on Friday.
“However, as it happens on occasion, some patients may be asked to wait while a bed is being made ready for them.”
Life Healthcare regional manager Riaan Croucamp said the St George’s and Mercantile hospitals were seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases but were ready to accept more.
He said of the 155 beds earmarked for Covid-19 positive patients, 105 were in use.
“At this time, only critical surgeries are being performed in the hospitals to minimise bed usage and to restrict access unless absolutely necessary.”
Croucamp said the hospitals had plans to convert more beds for Covid-19 if needed and to recruit more staff.
“The bed capacity situation is fluid and is being reassessed frequently.”
He said the hospitals’ management had met with the provincial hospital officials in the region to determine plans for assistance when needed.
“Should the need to divert patients to the nearest available facility arise, this will be done with the patient’s condition and needs in mind as well as in collaboration with the patient, doctors and emergency medical services.”
Such a diversion would only be an option if no other arrangements could be made.
“Our Covid-19 task team is continuously assessing the situation and ensuring that our facilities and employees across the country have all the required resources to treat patients who are affected by the virus and those who are not.”
Meanwhile, premier Oscar Mabuyane’s spokesperson, Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha, said the province had 169 private and public facilities, with a total of 5,460 beds available.
Some of these were being used for quarantine or isolation around the province.
Today, Mabuyane will launch phase 1 of a field hospital built by the Volkswagen Group SA and funded by the German government.
‘Should the need to divert patients to the nearest available facility arise, this will be done with the patient’s condition and needs in mind
Riaan Croucamp
LIFE HEALTHCARE REGIONAL MANAGER
The facility will add 1,485 beds immediately and, once completed, will offer a total of 3,300.
“The provincial government will operate and manage the hospital, and provide medicine and personnel for this hospital until March 2021,” Sicwetsha said.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium can accommodate 1,500 people at a time.
On the field hospitals scattered across the province, he said each one would have 500 medical beds with all the highcare needs required.
“The province is intensifying efforts of containing the virus through mass screening, and targeted testing of significant contacts, vulnerable individuals and those with symptoms,” Sicwetsha said.
“We are putting in place sustainable solutions by investing in our health services, facilities and sustainable infrastructure.
“We are saving the provincial economy, securing the future of our province through economic recovery plans, aligning our skills development to respond to the challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic, and ensuring relevant education and sustainable food security.”
He said the government had started to use a Telkom tracking-and-tracing application.
When a person tested positive for the virus, he or she had to provide a list of the people they had been in contact with.
These people would then be notified by SMS that they had come into contact with someone who had the virus.
Sicwetsha said Nelson Mandela Bay had 25 tracers who had tracked down 3,080 significant contacts. So far, 133,790 tests had been done, with 107,736 conducted by the National Health Laboratory Services, 14,546 by Ampath and 11,508 by Pathcare.
The death toll in the province was at 285 on Sunday.
There were 7,716 cases of Covid-19 in the province.
Nelson Mandela Bay has 2,590 cases, with a death toll of 86.
Sicwetsha said 763 healthcare workers employed in the private and public sectors had tested positive, 24 of whom had died. “We are focusing on targeted community screening and testing of people with symptoms according to case definition at hotspots and outbreak areas, testing for symptomatic people at hotspots.”
Sicwetsha said 196 schools had closed in the province due to Covid-19 infections, with 40 of them reopened after decontamination.
The remaining schools would only reopen after three days of screening and decontamination was carried out.
Eastern Cape health superintendent-general Dr Thobile Mbengashe did not respond to telephone calls or WhatsApp messages.