Major healthcare worker shortages – R460-million Gauteng hospital stands empty

A hospital in Gauteng, funded by the provincial government for R460 million, stands empty despite being handed over to the Gauteng Health Department last month, City Press reports.

This is reportedly due to a lack of medical staff available to use this new facility.

City Press also highlights that another R550 million COVID-19 facility – at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital – is operating at a fraction of its capacity due to staff shortages.

Gauteng Health Ministry spokesman Kwara Kekana told the city press that only 92 of the 500 available beds at that facility were occupied.

This staff shortage comes at a time when Gauteng is desperately looking for COVID-19 beds, according to SA Medical Association Chair Dr. 702 radio interview that the shortage of beds is also due to this lack of staff.

“We said that the moratorium on jobs in the public sector needs to be lifted. Nothing was done. It wasn’t picked up, ”said Coetzee.

Level 3 in effect

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Tuesday that South Africa entered a customized level 3 lockdown that has increased the national curfew and restricted alcohol sales.

President Cyril Ramaphosa

The sale of alcohol for external consumption is now only allowed from Monday to Thursday between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., while the curfew applies from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.

Other important changes were:

• Public places, including restaurants and bars, must close by 9:00 PM.
• Gatherings are limited to 50 people inside or 100 people outside – with social distancing.
• Masks are required in public places.

“The massive increase in new infections means that we have to tighten the restrictions on people and gatherings again,” said Ramaphosa.

“We need to enforce compliance and we need to take stronger action against those who don’t adhere to the rules that are saving our lives.”

The number of active COVID-19 cases has increased in the past few days, with the new daily active cases hitting 13,575 on Saturday.

More than half of these new cases – 8,403 – are in Gauteng, while the Western Cape had the second highest number of new daily cases at 1,541.

In total, there are currently 110,725 active cases in South Africa, with tests showing a positivity rate of 23.2%.

# COVID19 UPDATE: In the last 24 hours a total of 58,635 tests were carried out with 13,575 new cases, which corresponds to a positivity rate of 23.2%. Another 149 deaths related to # COVID19 have been reported, bringing the total death toll to 58,590. Read more: https://t.co/i7uSo4EiaI pic.twitter.com/lVI6TPHrl5

– NICD (@nicd_sa) June 19, 2021

Vaccine problems

South Africa was treated as heavy hit on June 11, when a US Food and Drug Administration ruling found that a Johnson & Johnson factory did not strictly follow safety protocols.

That left around 60 million doses of the company’s vaccine unusable.

Two million of these cans were in a warehouse in Gqeberha, said incumbent health minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane.

In total, the government has ordered over 31 million units of the single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.

Acting Minister of Health Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane

Read Now: South Africa May Be Over Counting Its Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine Doses

source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/major-healthcare-worker-shortages-r460-million-gauteng-hospital-stands-empty/