Doctors Without Borders
The Covid-19, 70-bed basement ward equipped with piped oxygen at Livingstone Hospital in Gqeberha is currently operating at less than 60% capacity due to a shortage of doctors and nurses.
This is according to Doctors Working Without Borders (MSF) who say they have been supporting the Department of Health in all three Covid-19 waves.
MSF Emergency Coordinator Brett Sandler says doctors and nurses will continue to support the basement ward but it has to be a supplementary service.
Sandler said the two doctors made available to the ward by the Department left in July, leaving MSF doctors working alongside an overstretched team of nurses, consultants, and physiotherapists at the peak of the third wave.
Senior MSF clinician, Dr Rosie Burton, says not all the beds in the basement can be used leaving patients backed up in the emergency department which does not have optimal care for Covid-19 patients or access to high levels of oxygen essential to patients severely ill with Covid-19 pneumonia.
Dr Burton says the current waiting time for a bed in the ward is 24-72 hours and that deteriorating patients are getting to the ward too late.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) says it is aware of the challenges facing clinicians at Livingstone Hospital.
The Department said it engaged with several clinicians recently to get a better understanding of the situation on the ground.
"Also, to enlist their thoughts on what they believe can improve the quality of services being provided. They were also invited to share how they believe clinical teams can be better supported," said Department Head, Dr Rolene Wagner.
Dr Wagner says the engagements are ongoing and that the DOH will be widening this engagement as it moves towards a shared understanding and consensus on the situation in Nelson Mandela Bay.
The Department also reiterated its great appreciation for frontline workers during the fight against Covid-19.
While Doctors Working Without Borders talked about the increasing infections in the Metro, the Department of Health sang another tune.
“The NMB Metro has reported a decrease in the seven days moving average in week 34 compared to the preceding week and a less than 10% increase in active cases per 100 000 cases," said the DOH.
It added that hospital admissions for both the public and private sector had remained steady and well within the available beds at this time.
The DOH concluded that the positivity rate remained high but that it was hopeful that the wave was flattening in the Bay area.
All residents have been encouraged to take extra cautionary measures and to adhere to Covid-19 regulations to avoid the spread of the virus.
The DOH has also encouraged everyone who meets the requirements set out by Government to get vaccinated.
