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Gauteng has sufficient supply of PPE: Health dept

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The Gauteng Department of Health is adamant that they have a sufficient supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for all healthcare facilities in the province. 

The Department also says that specialised PPE task teams have been set up to ensure that all facilities are issued with the necessary stock they require.  

However, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawuin Gauteng has alleged that only employees dealing with COVID-19 at some facilities are being prioritised when issuing PPEs over staff working in general wards.  

Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi says: “In terms of PPEwe do have enough. I’ve gone to the warehouses where we checked our availabilities of PPE and we also have task teams that are checking our daily usage of PPE.  When hospitals are ordering PPE, they must also indicate their stock at hand. Because when you show your stock at hand, the person who is issuing the equipment can know the urgency of the request of the PPE.”  

Gauteng braces itself for spike in cases  

Meanwhile, Gauteng Premier David Makhura says the province is bracing itself for s rapid spike in cases as more holiday makers return following the festive season.  

Makhura has also urged all those who are returning to the province to adhere to all health and safety measures.  

On Tuesday, authorities set up roadblocks at the Grasmere Toll Plaza in the south of Johannesburg to screen people returning.  

Those not feeling well were encouraged to test at the temporary testing stations that had been set up on site. 

Makhura says: ““We’re already feeling it, the daily cases of 4 000, we’ve exceeded that already. We also have exceeded 3 000 hospital admissions already. Those are indications that the situation in the province is going to be difficult, we have seen also with the number of people who are succumbing to COVID-19. The number is increasing on a daily basis. We want to say to the people of our province who are returning here, we want to call on them to comply with all the health measures.”  

Experts are warning that Gauteng could over the next two weeks become the epicentre of the second surge and surpass coastal provinces like Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. 

Vice-President of the Medical Research Concil, Prof Jeffrey Mphahlele explains:  

-Additional reporting by Wisani Makhubele

 

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