‘We have enough hospital beds’ – KZN government

The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government said it has enough hospital beds to deal with the second wave of the Covid-19 virus.

Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said the government built enough capacity from the first wave of the virus to deal with a resurgence.

“The beds that we created in July, we were not able to utilise all of them. We have more than above the required number of beds that seem to be needed currently,” said Simelane-Zulu.

During a Covid-19 media briefing on Sunday, it was revealed that the KZN Department of Health has prepared a total of 3367 beds in public health facilities, 147 of which are ICU beds.

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Sihle Zikalala, KZN Premier, pushed back on the notion that public hospitals were under pressure, saying that only 1274 people had been admitted for Covid-19 related issues as of 18 December.

However, Zikalala said that private sector hospitals are “under pressure” in terms of bed availability.

Private hospitals in KZN had 1506 patients admitted, with the majority being in eThekwini, with 1008 patients, as of 18 December said Zikalala. 

“The department has not activated beds in private facilities for patients under investigation, but will do so if the need arises,” he said.

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KZN currently has 157 432 confirmed Covid-19 cases (124 262 recoveries) and 3643 deaths.

eThekwini district has been hit the hardest, accounting for 66.6  per cent of total cases and 49.5 per cent of total deaths.  

Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting

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