Covid-19 not the cause of Netcare Parklands relocating emergency department

The Netcare Parklands Hospital in Durban will be moving its emergency department, but not because of a Covid-19 scare.

“Netcare Parklands Hospital is open and operating. The emergency department, which is located inside the hospital, is currently being relocated to a new area. Please note that this temporary closure is not related in any way to a Covid-19 case at the hospital,” Netcare coastal regional director Craig Murphy said on Monday.

He said the hospital’s emergency department remains open.

“[It is open] for emergency cases brought in by ambulance and for patients that are under the care of our specialists, but is temporarily closed for walk-ins, i.e. persons making their own way to the emergency department. The relocated emergency department is expected to open shortly.”

Netcare came under the spotlight, particularly in Durban, after the Kingsway and St Augustine’s Hospitals registered infections of health workers and the public.

So far, 10 healthcare workers at Kingsway have been infected with the deadly virus, while there were five deaths at St Augustine’s, the most at one facility in the province.

St Augustine’s is now also home to the most infected health workers in the province, with 48 of 108 coming from this facility.

MEC for Health Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu on Sunday said there was a dialysis centre at St Augustine’s that was still operational.

“Understanding the shortage of dialysis in the province, when we closed down the hospital, we agreed to have it operate because it was separate from the main building.”

She said the department questioned the Netcare group on the possibility of the virus spreading.

“They indicated that it was not possible for the virus to move around, because the healthcare workers that work at the hospital do not necessarily work at the centre. On Wednesday, we were informed that close to seven patients have tested positive.”

Simelane-Zulu said the department instructed St Augustine’s to find alternative centres for patients to receive dialysis.

“You cannot just stop dialysis because complications can arise in three or four days. We are giving St. Augustine’s a week to tell us what they are going to do with these patients. We also want to know where they are going to take them (the patients). They need to test all of them, other than the seven we know about.”