Medical personnel need clarity on self-isolation

It is worrying that, with a possible tsunami of Covid-19 infections just over the horizon, there are seemingly ructions between the medical profession and the government.

Yesterday’s legal tussle between the SA Medical Association and the MEC for health in Limpopo over two young doctors who were forcibly put into quarantine at a government facility and not allowed to self-isolate themselves after testing positive for the virus, showed up a difference in how the disaster regulations are being interpreted.

MEC Phophi Ramathuba obtained a court order after the two medics allegedly went into self-isolation only after sending their domestic worker back to an informal settlement where she lives with her child.

SA Medical Association chairperson Dr Angelique Coetzee claimed, however, that Ramathuba had accused the two doctors of bringing Covid-19 to her province.

The unseemly spat will no doubt not be helped by Coetzee’s comments in a TV interview yesterday that the government – and in particular Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula – were “not listening” to local and international medical experts in enforcing social distancing.

Mbalula backed down to the taxi industry in relaxing restrictions on the number of passengers who could be carried in a taxi. Also, the disaster regulation restrictions on movement between provinces have been relaxed to allow people to attend funerals and to stay overnight in accommodation establishments en route to such funerals.

Whatever the wrongs or rights of the court case, it comes at a time when we need unity between all of the medical professionals on the frontline and the government. There needs to be clarity on messaging about whether self-isolation – especially for medical personnel – is acceptable or not.

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