The Democratic Nurses’ Association of South Africa (Denosa) angered at Sindiswa Gomba, MEC for Health in the Eastern Cape.
According to Denosa, Gomba did not ensure that all doctors, nurses and other medical staff in hospitals – the people in the front lines in the fight against Covid-19 – had the necessary protective clothing.
The latest figures show the number of new infections in the province has increased by 53 to a total of 588 people.
While Denosa on Tuesday demanded that Gomba’s head roll, Gomba announced that the department was working full steam to make sure all medical personnel had the necessary protective equipment.
She says the department received 1.5 million surgical masks and 200,000 gloves (size number seven). The stock is stored at Isuzu Motors’ workshop in Port Elizabeth and forms part of an order placed last Wednesday. It was only delivered on Friday.
“Today we supply 300,000 masks to the Nelson Mandela Bay metro, 120,000 to Chris Hani Regional Municipality and 55,000 to Joe Gqabi. Other districts will pick up their stock tomorrow, ”says Gomba.
“We prioritize and distribute supplies in large numbers to high-figure districts and to hospitals where patients treated with Covid-19 are treated.”
In addition to dispatching masks and gloves to the aforementioned districts, the department sent 1,200 N95 face masks (respirators) and 900 medical advances to staff at Frontier Hospital in Queenstown.
She confirmed that the department is expected to receive about 100,000 N95 respirators on Tuesday. They continue to obtain gowns for medical staff who care for Covid-19 patients and for those who test people for the virus.
“Providing protective clothing remains a priority for the department, as well as ensuring that our staff does not contract the virus,” says the MEC.
“We work with local and international suppliers to get stock and deliver it to our facilities.”
In the future, the department undertook to publish daily where protective clothing is delivered, as well as information on the status of the suit.
