Kingsway Hospital closed due to Covid-19

Kingsway Hospital was closed for new admissions on Tuesday, 14 April to manage Covid-19 exposure. Regional director of Netcare, Craig Murphy, said the origin of the exposure was traced to a patient who was admitted via the emergency department on Saturday, 4 April with a suspected stroke. Upon admission, the patient was risk assessed and screened for Covid-19 symptoms, although he did not exhibit any signs of the virus and on questioning his family, no symptoms or exposure risks were reported.

“During his hospitalisation, the patient was visited by his general practitioner on the evening of Tuesday, 7 April who mentioned to the treating specialist that he had recently treated him for flu-like symptoms on 1 April. The specialist requested a Covid-19 test as a precautionary measure, even though the patient was still asymptomatic. At the same time, he was placed in isolation as a person under investigation (PUI). The test results on 8 April confirmed he had a Covid-19 infection.”

In addition to closing the hospital for new admissions until further notice, management has taken several other measures. “We embarked on an extensive programme of contact-tracing to identify all nurses, doctors, paramedics, support staff and contract service providers in the hospital who may have had contact with the patient in question. Healthcare and other workers who have been exposed to the patient were asked to home-quarantine and self-monitor. Most of the identified contacts have been tested for Covid-19 and the remainder of exposed persons will be tested in the next few days. All potentially exposed patients have also been tested.

“Everyone who has undergone testing are regarded as PUIs and placed in isolation to contain the possible spread of the virus. All of our staff, as well as our patients, have been offered counselling and this support will be ongoing. The emergency department was closed for outpatients as of Tuesday, 14 April and emergency medical service providers were notified to divert emergencies to other emergency departments.”

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A deep cleaning and decontamination process was started immediately, including the deployment of an ultraviolet disinfecting robot, and this process will continue over the next days. “We understand that these precautionary measures will cause concern and inconvenience to the community, especially those with family members or friends being cared for in the hospital, as well as our staff members, doctors and other persons working at our hospital and their families. However, we believe these measures are absolutely necessary to safeguard all patients and persons working at Netcare Kingsway Hospital. The management team are contacting the family members of patients who have been admitted to Kingsway to explain the situation to them.”

Ward 97 councillor Andre Beetge said he was as shocked as everyone else to see a photograph of the notice posted at the hospital to inform of its closure, which was circulated on social media early Tuesday evening. “Attempts to obtain clarity from both the hospital administration as well as those on the provincial health portfolio committee proved a futile exercise, as the administration was at the time in lockdown discussions and provincial portfolio members were likewise uninformed of the decision.”

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From information Beetge obtained, the decision to close the hospital to new admissions was after three (additional) cases of Covid-19 were confirmed from test samples administered to all patients at the end of last week. Addition information contained in a report dated 12 April which made its way to his desk late on Monday evening confirms the following:

* For the period 5 to 12 April, 306 cases were confirmed in eThekwini alone, 19 of which were recorded on 12 April.

* Of the 27 confirmed deaths resulting from Covid-19, 15 (54%) occured in KZN, with 12 (80%) in eThekwini.

* The median age of the deceased was 73 years and 60% were male.

* Common comorbidity between them were hypertension (40%), diabetes (27%) and asthma (20%).

* At time of report, one patient from Ugu was listed as having died at Kingsway Hospital.

* Kingsway Hospital reflected 3 positive patients in their isolation ward.

* Procare Stepdown Hospital reflected 12 patients (since confirmed to be staff members from St Augustine’s Hospital who could not self-isolate due to possible family contamination and who were all on day 12 or 13.

* Four confirmed reported cases in the larger Amanzimtoti area on respectively 7 April (one), 9 April (two) and 10 April (one).

* Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news

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