Gauteng scrambles for extra health staff as Covid-19 infections rise

The rising cases of Covid-19, staff testing positive and the increasingly strained health system has sent Gauteng department of health authorities scrambling for extra staff, including nurses and doctors, with fears that the Cuban medics costing SA R239 million will make little or no difference.

A leaked urgent internal memorandum sent out by Dr Nokwanda Mzondo, a clinical manager for casualty at Leratong Hospital in Mogale City, Krugersdorp, is the closest indication to the province’s increasingly dire situation.

“I urgently need medical officers for casualty and internal medicine,” she said.

With 66,891 cases as of Monday, Gauteng, which is geographically the smallest province, but home to an estimated 15.2 million people, according to Statistics South Africa, is fast catching up to Western Cape, which has 70,938 cases.

Gauteng department of health spokesperson Kwara Kekana confirmed the memorandum but said it was only for Leratong. She however said the recruitment process in anticipation of the Covid-19 storm started in March, saying they were recruiting across all departments and divisions, from cleaners, admin clerks, to nurses and doctors. But Democratic Alliance spokesperson on health in Gauteng Jack Bloom said the recruitment started late.

Also read: Gauteng prepares mass graves as Covid-19 infections increase

“Now, we are in the middle of a storm and there is no critical staff. It is of no use to have field hospitals and so much high care beds if we do not have personnel,” he said.

Bloom said it was clear the province’s health system and facilities were increasingly getting overwhelmed, saying the 28 Cuban doctors deployed in the province would make no difference.

“The money could have been spent on treatment,” he said. Wayne Duvenage, head of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, said they were not following the impact of the Cuban doctors but their principle was that it was unnecessary.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, chairperson of SA Medical Association, said they did not know where the Cuban doctors were deployed or their tangible impact on the fight to cushion the Covid-19 blow. But Popo Maja, department of health spokesperson, said the deployment of the Cuban Medical Brigade to areas with high infections continued to make a huge difference.

He said 28 were in the Western Cape, 27 in KwaZulu-Natal, 20 in the Eastern Cape, 17 in the Free State, while Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West had 13 each and Northern Cape had 11; while 17 were deployed in the national department of health.

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