GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - Mediclinic Southern Africa expects continuous pressure in the coming weeks with a tremendous demand for hospital beds and ICU resources in most provinces.
“The current third wave is exceeding previous admissions to our facilities, which most likely can be attributed to the impact of the Delta variant,” said Chief Clinical Officer of Mediclinic Southern Africa, Dr Gerrit de Villiers.
Mediclinic currently experiences the pressure mostly in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
“We have also noted a reduction in demand for care within the Northern Cape and Namibia,” said De Villiers. “It is important to note that while ICU and high care capacity may vary from hospital to hospital depending on the number of licensed beds, not all Covid-19 patients require ICU care or mechanical ventilation. Many admitted patients are treated successfully with supplemental oxygen and other supportive treatment modalities and Mediclinic has capacity within its medical wards to assist patients in this manner.”
Where hospitals are experiencing pressure on resources, elective (or non-emergency) surgery has been reduced or temporarily suspended. “All emergency and urgent surgeries are continuing, as Mediclinic is still receiving non-Covid-19-related cases through our emergency centres and from referring doctors,” said De Villiers.
Visiting hours have been revised at many of Mediclinic’s hospitals. In regions experiencing the peak, visiting hours have been temporarily suspended.
Vaccination
Mediclinic is operating 10 Pfizer vaccination centres as part of the Department of Health’s vaccine roll-out.
Mediclinic confirmed an increase in the number of vaccines being administered through its vaccination centres in the past week, and is encouraged by the response among those older than 50 who have now become eligible for the vaccine. “It is vitally important that all eligible members of the community register themselves for Covid-19 vaccination and then be vaccinated. Vaccination protects against becoming severely ill from the virus, and reduces the risk of death,” said De Villiers.
Members of the public who are over 50 years of age can choose to register via different channels, depending on their access to these channels:
• visiting the online portal at https://vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za/#/
• sending a WhatsApp saying “REGISTER” to 0600 123 456
• sending an SMS to *134*832* followed by your ID number
• dialling *134*832# if you do not have an ID number.
Mediclinic plans to open further sites that will offer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as soon as stock is available. The vaccination centres are operating on an appointment basis as designated by the EVDS system, in order to reduce risk for those awaiting vaccination and to ensure fair distribution of the vaccine. Vaccination centres may begin adding a limited number of walk-ins to supplement these numbers, but this will be managed per site, based on the number of vaccines available above those allocated via appointment.
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