Netcare assures the public that they are doing all they can to bolster resources at their hospitals amid the second Covid-19 wave.
On 6 January, Group CEO for Netcare Dr Richard Friedland said, “In Gauteng, we are, as expected, already experiencing an alarming rise in admissions of Covid-19 patients across all our facilities and this is expected to rapidly worsen over the next two weeks.”
Dr Friedland added that given the group’s experience with the first wave, Netcare was well equipped to maximise their ability to provide care during the expected surge in Gauteng.
“We are constantly converting more beds to red Covid-19 beds to accommodate the expected surge in Gauteng. To ease the burden of our emergency departments, and to alleviate long waiting times, we are establishing Clinical Decision Units within certain hospitals. These will be managed by our emergency department physicians in order to alleviate pressure on beds within the hospital.”
Friedland noted that the group had upgraded the storage capacity of oxygen at most facilities and was in the process of completing further upgrades at 17 facilities in Gauteng.
“The most effective way of preventing a humanitarian crisis is for everyone to take Covid-19 extremely seriously and be more cautious than ever. Please remain vigilant to help protect your loved ones, yourself and the healthcare system. It is critical for each individual to closely adhere to Covid-19 precautions including washing hands regularly, adhering to social distancing, and always wearing a mask in public and in the presence of others, to protect yourselves and to help prevent the spread of the virus.
“We cannot emphasise strongly enough the need for all these precautions to be diligently followed, as every person has a responsibility to help ‘flatten this new curve’ and avoid contracting and passing on the virus.”
Netcare have taken the following steps to help bolster their resources:
- All staff have been called back from leave to increase staff complements
- Additional doctors, clinical associates and social workers have been recruited to assist
- Netcare has procured an additional 1 100 oxygenators which will arrive in the country soon as well as high-flow nasal devices which are due to arrive mid-January. This brings the total number of high-flow nasal devices in the group to 626 and 1 105 ventilators.
- The Netcare group has 10 411 hospital beds which includes 5 699 across 29 hospitals in Gauteng.
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