The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo is concerned about the poor hospital conditions, limited bed space and crippling staff shortages as the Covid-19 numbers continue to sharply increase.
The province currently has 10 379 active cases, 2 807 deaths and a recorded 1 858 new cases yesterday. Limpopo has also seen large numbers of infections in areas such as Makhado, Lephalale, Polokwane and Mogalakwena.
The DA is alarmed that public hospitals in Limpopo are struggling to cope with the flood of Covid-19 patients as well as by the reports of other patients being discharged from hospitals to make room for Covid-19 patients.
The large influx of patients into the province’s under-resourced public health facilities is further compounded by the presence of the highly transmissible Delta variant in the province, poor hospital conditions and massive hospital staff shortages that threaten to further endanger the lives of Limpopo citizens as Covid cases surge.
Between 25 August and 23 September 2020, the Limpopo Legislature Portfolio Committee on Heath carried out site visits to 20 health facilities in the province. In almost all the facilities the committee raised concerns over poor infrastructure, poor conditions, cleanliness, insufficient equipment, inadequate and large numbers of vacant critical posts.
The committee’s site visits report and recent reports of the lack of capacity to deal with Limpopo’s Covid-19 cases have exposed the failure of the Limpopo Department of Health to prepare adequately since the last surge of the virus.
While we acknowledge the efforts of the Limpopo Department of Health and especially the hard work of healthcare workers during this period, it is clear that poor planning and financial mismanagement has affected our province’s response to Covid-19.
The DA encourages all eligible citizens to go and vaccinate against Covid-19 and believes that citizens need to continue to play their part by always wearing a mask in public, ensuring we social distance at all times and regularly sanitise or wash our hands.