The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has advised General Practitioners and other healthcare professionals to develop new ways of booking and screening patients suspected of being infected with the coronavirus to avoid its further spread.
This, after a second case of the virus in South Africa was confirmed in Gauteng on Saturday.
The 39-year-old women had been in contact with the man that tested positive for the virus earlier this week.
SAMA says having measures in place to book patients before they arrive at the practice will also prevent other patients from getting infected.
SAMA Chairperson, Angelique Coetzee says, “The problem arises because you, as a GP, don’t know the type of patient that is making an appointment at your surgery. Even if you know that they may have complained of colds and flu, you still don’t know whether it’s a real cold or flu or whether this is part of the coronavirus.”
She adds, “If you are not sure what type of patient is going to come into your surgery, you will have to see that patient in a different way. You will have to ask some prior questions to try to determine which patients would be fine to come into the surgery and who else do you need to see at a different venue or maybe to go more the route of Skype where you can look at the patient, communicate with the patient, but without physically examining the patient.”
Meanwhile, Nedbank has confirmed that one of its Durban based staff members is currently under self-quarantine and is being tested for the coronavirus. The bank says that the employee was part of a group of South Africans who arrived back from Italy on March 1st.
It is believed to be the same group that South Africa’s first positive coronavirus case emerged from.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize earlier confirmed that the Gauteng woman who tested positive for the virus was also part of the group.
The 39-year old woman has been admitted to the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg.
The hospital is one of three dedicated facilities in Gauteng for the treatment and isolation of conronavirus cases.
Last week, South African Medical Association said it was concerned about the country’s capacity to place a large number of people under quarantine amid the global coronavirus outbreak.
Below is an interview with Dr Angelique Coetzee from the South African Medical Association:
Below is a Live Tracking of the cases, death toll and other information:
