With fewer than 160 people admitted to hospitals in the province for Covid-19, Eastern Cape health boss Thobile Mbengashe believes protests by health workers were more about fear of the virus than the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Speaking at the launch of the VWSA’s field hospital in Korsten on Tuesday, health superintendent-general Mbengashe said he believed the anxiety expressed around the shortage of (PPE) was related to health workers’ fears around contracting the virus.
“We’ve got less than 160 patients in hospitals.
“This is important because it shows that the anxiety over non-availability of PPE is more of an expression of fear, and we need to ensure our teams are trained and able to respond.
“What we found was that there was a situation of fear around Covid-19 and at times people expressed this fear by saying there was a lack of PPE,” Mbengashe said.
Recently, workers at Glen Grey Hospital in Cacadu, St Barnabas Hospital in Libode and Dora Nginza Hospital in Kwazakhele downed tools with the aim of compelling the provincial government to provide them with PPE.
Meanwhile, a notice at Empilisweni Hospital in Sterkspruit instructed health workers to wear their masks for 14 days before throwing them away.
Several health workers in the province have tested positive for Covid-19.
Some of these cases have been linked to a funeral that took place in KwaDwesi, Port Elizabeth, on March 21.
Mbengashe said the province, together with the national health department, had established a centralised procurement and logistics system which would ensure an adequate number of PPE was available.
“We’ve also gone further and developed a stock visibility system to monitor on a daily basis what is available in the ward.
“What is the amount of inventory they have and how much they need.
“This helps us see the true nature of PPE,” Mbengashe said.
Mbengashe said hospital wards would also be classified following a risk assessment process.
He said this would mean some wards would be inadmissible without the proper PPE whereas other wards that were low risk would not need as high a level of PPE.
During the VWSA field hospital launch, head of engineering Dr Joost Pienaar presented some of the items the automotive giant had produced in efforts to combat the virus.
They included masks, N95 masks and a ventilator produced at the Uitenhage plant.
Pienaar said the company could produce about 4,000 N95 masks a day and 100 ventilators.
He said they had used a Polo Vivo wiper motor to drive the machine.
Once the R100m field hospital was completed, it would be able to accommodate 4,000 people.
PPE anxieties being addressed, health boss says
Image: SINO MAJANGAZA
With fewer than 160 people admitted to hospitals in the province for Covid-19, Eastern Cape health boss Thobile Mbengashe believes protests by health workers were more about fear of the virus than the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Speaking at the launch of the VWSA’s field hospital in Korsten on Tuesday, health superintendent-general Mbengashe said he believed the anxiety expressed around the shortage of (PPE) was related to health workers’ fears around contracting the virus.
“We’ve got less than 160 patients in hospitals.
“This is important because it shows that the anxiety over non-availability of PPE is more of an expression of fear, and we need to ensure our teams are trained and able to respond.
“What we found was that there was a situation of fear around Covid-19 and at times people expressed this fear by saying there was a lack of PPE,” Mbengashe said.
Recently, workers at Glen Grey Hospital in Cacadu, St Barnabas Hospital in Libode and Dora Nginza Hospital in Kwazakhele downed tools with the aim of compelling the provincial government to provide them with PPE.
Meanwhile, a notice at Empilisweni Hospital in Sterkspruit instructed health workers to wear their masks for 14 days before throwing them away.
Several health workers in the province have tested positive for Covid-19.
Some of these cases have been linked to a funeral that took place in KwaDwesi, Port Elizabeth, on March 21.
Mbengashe said the province, together with the national health department, had established a centralised procurement and logistics system which would ensure an adequate number of PPE was available.
“We’ve also gone further and developed a stock visibility system to monitor on a daily basis what is available in the ward.
“What is the amount of inventory they have and how much they need.
“This helps us see the true nature of PPE,” Mbengashe said.
Mbengashe said hospital wards would also be classified following a risk assessment process.
He said this would mean some wards would be inadmissible without the proper PPE whereas other wards that were low risk would not need as high a level of PPE.
During the VWSA field hospital launch, head of engineering Dr Joost Pienaar presented some of the items the automotive giant had produced in efforts to combat the virus.
They included masks, N95 masks and a ventilator produced at the Uitenhage plant.
Pienaar said the company could produce about 4,000 N95 masks a day and 100 ventilators.
He said they had used a Polo Vivo wiper motor to drive the machine.
Once the R100m field hospital was completed, it would be able to accommodate 4,000 people.
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