Pixabay
The SA Medical Association SAMA says renewed calls for a return to a harder lockdown by various individuals and organisations are counter-productive and will not achieve meaningful results in the fight against COVID-19.
It says focusing on strengthening health facilities, and vaccinating healthcare workers, is a more sensible approach.
SAMA Chairperson, Dr Angelique Coetzee, says returning to lockdown Level 5 will only harm the already fragile economy, and place businesses who are already struggling in further jeopardy.
She says the current Level 3 lockdown is sufficient but it must be accompanied by a wholesale improvement to medical care which requires a lot more focus on providing health facilities with resources to increase their capacity.
Dr Coetzee says SAMA is being contacted daily by doctors who say they are burnt out from being overworked, but who also say authorities are not taking their concerns seriously enough.
“It’s a point we will continue making until it is taken more seriously than it currently is. At some point the pool of doctors working now is going to thin out due to exhaustion; you can have as many lockdowns as you like but not dealing with this critical core issue will sooner or later catch up with you,” Dr Coetzee notes.
In addition, Dr Coetzee says a vital step in dealing with the pandemic is to ensure all healthcare workers in the country are vaccinated as soon as possible.
