Melomed doing compulsory Covid-19 testing for all new admissions

The Melomed Hospitals group is testing all its new admissions for Covid-19 regardless of the reason why people are admitted, to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus, the group said on Monday.

“Melomed Hospitals’ strict clinical processes requires that all patients admitted into the Melomed Hospitals as ‘in-patients’ are to be tested for Covid-19,” Melomed group marketing manager Shameema Adams told News24.

“The testing is to manage and mitigate risks within the Melomed Hospitals because we are now finding patients who are asymptomatic as being tested Covid-19 positive.”

They’ve already had their first pregnant mum who tested positive. Her treatment was managed according to the prescribed protocols for Covid-19.

“The delivery was successful and mother and baby are doing well at home.”

Another private hospital group, the Netcare group, has also been testing and tracing after being rocked by a number of Covid-19 cases emerging as the virus moved from being associated with people who had returned from overseas, or had contact with international visitors, to community transmissions.

Essential service workers, who are at the front line of nursing, doctoring and cleaning in hospitals, are now increasingly at risk of contracting the virus.

Netcare’s St Augustine’s and Kingsway facilities in KwaZulu-Natal, Morningside Clinic in Sandton, and Pholoso Hospital in Limpopo are among the first private hospitals to face the virus, which mostly attacks the respiratory system.

The Netcare Group has significantly ramped up its response to the pandemic after a number of staff tested positive at the two KZN hospitals.

The group is currently also testing known and possible contacts of the cases at its facilities, and isolating people where necessary.

For example, a patient at their Kingsway facility on the south coast, initially presented with a stroke, and it was only after discussion with the patient’s doctor that it emerged that he had recently been treated for flu. He subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.

Melomed said that its new protocol is one of the ways it can mitigate the risks, although it accepts that it will not be a complete protection, given that there is no vaccine yet.

“All patients, be they pregnant or otherwise, must be tested for Covid-19 prior to being admitted into a Melomed hospital,” Adams explained.

The Melomed group has also triaged and set up dedicated Covid-19 wards for people who test positive before admittance, and a patient under investigation (PUI) ward, for those whose results are still outstanding.

“This practice is absolutely necessary because if the patient is positive, we need to prepare the necessary infection control protocols in respect of the delivery room and the theatre.”

Maternity ward testing

The system will have the patients in strictly demarcated separate wards for people who test positive, negative, or who are still a “PIU”.

Universal testing will be done on all pregnant women presenting at the maternity ward.

The group’s Dr Shukri Raban, a neonatologist at Melomed Hospitals, said: “If a mother tests negative, she and her baby will be managed as we normally do in the maternity ward. The baby does not need testing.”

If the mother is positive, and the baby is born asymptomatic and thus showing no signs of illness the baby will stay with the mother and will not be tested.

The mother is allowed to breastfeed the baby. The mother, however, needs to take the following precautions.

– She needs to wear a mask at all times.

– She needs to wash her hands before and after breastfeeding, changing the nappy and general handling of the baby.

– At home, she will self-isolate with the baby for 14 days.

– If the baby is symptomatic, the baby will be managed in the neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The baby will then be tested on day 3 and day 5.

Patients are consulted on this and must consent to Melomed’s policies before they are admitted as in-patients, unless it’s an emergency admission.

“The universal testing policy of Melomed has been accepted by our patients and admitting doctors because we have already seen situations where our hospitals could have been seriously affected by the coronavirus if we did not apply this policy,” Melomed said.

‘Limit the risk’

She said Covid-19 tests are generally paid for by medical aids but those not on medical aid or private patients will need to pay for the test.

“We have based our policy on what we have observed at health facilities nationally and internationally. However, we must emphasise that despite having these policies in place we are still prone to be affected – nothing is foolproof.

“There is no guarantee that our hospitals will be fully protected from this dangerous coronavirus. Therefore, these practices we are implementing are to limit the risk.”

The group is also not allowing any visitors into the hospitals, unless under exceptional circumstances, and with a sign off by a manager or doctor, during the pandemic.

In the meantime, anybody who does enter the hospital, be they a staff member or a doctor, are screened and are expected to follow strict personal protective equipment protocols, including the wearing of masks, at all times.

Once in the hospital, they are expected to wash their hands “vigorously” regularly at additional washing stations set up around the hospitals, and people are expected to keep their distance from each other.

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