Will you be able to visit your Covid-19 positive child in hospital?

Dr Stefan Smuts, Chief Clinical Officer at Mediclinic Southern Africa, assured parents that Mediclinic understands that a child cannot reasonably be admitted without a parent present. “First, we will do a risk assessment on the parent and as far as possible we will promote the use of Infection Prevention and Control principles to limit their risk of exposure.”

In response to the outbreak hospitals countrywide have suspended visiting hours as healthcare workers along with the elderly and individuals with co-morbidities have been found to be at a higher risk of infection and death. In the interest of reducing risks to patients, general visiting hours have been temporarily withdrawn as of 1 April 2020 at Mediclinic.

Exceptions to these visiting hours include (strictly one visitor per patient), by arrangement with hospital management:
• NICU
• Maternity Unit
• Paediatric Unit
• Visitation of critically ill patients

Mediclinic encouraged communities to adhere to the lockdown and distancing efforts and to observe all measures put in place within the hospital to ensure the safety of their patients. They will continue to follow strict protocols released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the WHO, in order to prevent the transmission of the virus in their facilities and to protect patients, staff and doctors.

READ: Covid-19: Doulas will not be allowed into delivery rooms during labour

The public health system has also suspended visiting hours, but Dr Lwazi Manzi, Spokesperson of the Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, told Review that one parent would be allowed to stay with a child in isolation or quarantine should the child be younger than six years old, tests positive for Covid-19 and has to be hospitalised. Dr Anchen Laubscher, group medical director of Netcare said in the case of non-Covid-19 paediatric patients admitted to hospital during the lockdown period, special “living in” visitation rights can be given by the hospital to one parent of a paediatric patient, provided that the parent does not display any symptoms suggestive of Covid-19 or have had any known contact with a confirmed Covid-19 patient.

The parent will be supplied with a mask to wear for the duration of their stay, and will also have to adhere to other infection prevention protocols. In the case of the child being treated in hospital for suspected or confirmed Covid-19, visitation or “living in” of a parent will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, as the considerations for each case will differ. For example, consideration will be whether the parent(s) of the child may also have, or have been confirmed with Covid-19, and what risk “living in” may pose.

READ: FEATURE: Pregnancy and labour during a pandemic

The hospital will discuss individual cases with the medical and nursing staff managing the Netcare joint operations centre for the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to find the best solution.

*Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news.

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